Southern  Branch 
of  the 

University  of  California 


Los  Angeles 


Form  L  I 

LB 
507 
089  - 


///^ 


MAJfU.lLS  FOR   TE,.lCHERS.-J\^o.  1. 


THE 


CULTIVATION 


OF   THE 


,   Lo«  Angeles,  Caii 


SENSES. 


ltt,i 


PHILADELPHIA: 

ELDREDGE  &  BROTHER, 

17  North  Seventh  Street. 


Copyright  1879. 


Manuals  for  Teachers. 


These  Manuals  were  originally  pubnshed  in  Eng- 
laml,  having  been  prepared  at  the  request  of  the 
Litetature  Committee  of  the  National  Educational 
Society,  by  men  distinguished  at  their  several  Univer- 
sities, and  possessed  of  large  experience  as  teachers. 
They  have  been  carefully  revised  and  adapted  to  the 
■wants  of  American  teachers,  and  it  is  hoped  will 
prove  a  valuable  addition  to  the  literature  of  the  art 
and  science  of  teaching.  The  Series  comprises  the 
following  volumes  : 

1.  The  Cultivation  of  the  Senses. 

2.  The  Cultivation  of  the  Mennory. 

3.  On  the  Use  of  Words. 

4.  Oil  Discipline. 

8.  On  Class  Teaching. 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL, 

lo&  Ans^ks,  Cai. 


I. — Introduction 5 


II.— The  Senses 

III. — How  THE  Child  gets  his  First  Ideas     . 
IV. — How  the  Child  Perceives    .... 
V. — How  the  Child  forms  Conceptions 
VI. — How  shall  we  Cultivate  the  Child's  Senses 

VII. — Object  Lessons 

VIII. — On    the    Special    Value    of    the     Physical 
Sciences  as  Instruments  for  Cultivatinc 

the  Senses    .     » 

IX. — Lessons  on  Color  and  Forms 
X. — The   Senses   in  Rela>tion   to   the   Ordinary 
Subjects  of  School  Instruction 


13 
36 
44 
51 

57 
67 


74 
78 

82 


?^^^  A^^ 


r^. 


'  blessed  is  he  that  Helfeth  the  Little  Ones  ; 
He  shall  have  Teace  in  his  days." 


THE 


Cultivation  of  the  Senses. 


Chapter   I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

HERE  is  a  new-born  infant  lying  in  its  cradle. 
The  physical  mechanism  of  its  body  is  com- 
plete in  all  its  parts  and  already  in  motion.  It  has 
organs  of  sight,  hearing,  touch,  taste,  and  smell.  It 
has  nerves  to  convey  the  impressions  made  on  those 
organs  to  its  brain,  and  other  nerves  to  direct  its 
movements.  But  as  yet,  so  far  as  knowledge  of  the 
external  world  is  concerned,  its  mind  is  a  perfect 
blank,  like  this  sheet  of  paper  was  before  it  was 
printed  on.  Impressions  are  made  upon  its  senses ; 
images  are  formed  on  the  retina  of  its  open  eyes ; 
sounds  are  conveyed  to  its  ears  ;  bodies  are  in  con- 
tact with  its  skin;  odors  reach  its  nostrils;  flavors 
affect  its  tongue;  but  none  of  the   impressions  thus 


6  CULTIVATION   OF    THE    SENSES. 

made  are  identified,  and  consequently  are  not  known. 
And  as  it  has  no  knowledge,  so  it  has  no  will.  Its 
movements  are  involuntary. 

Here  is  the  same  child  now  grown  into  a  man.  He 
has  the  same  organs  of  mind  and  body,  no  more  and 
no  less,  as  when  he  lay  a  helpless  infant  in  the  cradle  ; 
yet  his  senses  are  now  so  acute  that  he  can  perceive 
the  slightest  differences  between  the  impressions  made 
upon  them  ;  he  recognizes  the  objects  by  which  he  is 
surrounded  ;  he  is  familiar  with  their  qualities,  their 
parts,  their  composition,  and  the  laws  to  which  they 
are  subject;  his  mind  is  stored  with  a  wide  variety 
of  ideas,  some  simple  and  some  complex  ;  he  is  able 
to  summon  up  these  ideas  at  his  will,  and  to  combine 
them  into  new  groups;  and  he  can  express  his  knowl- 
edge and  the  results  of  his  mental  operations  in  lan- 
guage. He  is  familiar  with  events  that  happened  thou- 
sands of  years  ago,  and  with  scenes  and  objects  that 
he  has  never  beheld.  He  is  able  to  reason  from  what 
he  has  observed  and  from  what  he  has  learned  through 
the  observations  of  others.  He  can  devise  or  employ 
means  to  attain  what  might  seem  the  most  unattainable 
ends.  He  is,  for  instance,  able  to  ascertain  in  his  own 
study  the  composition  of  the  sun  ;  he  can  send  a  mes- 
sage that  shall  fly  with  instantaneous  rapidity  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth ;  he  can  control  and  utilize  what 
might  seem  to  be  some  of  the  most  unmanageable 
forces  of  nature.     Simultaneously  with  this  acquisition 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

of  knowledge,  he  has  gained  the  power  of  directing 
his  conduct  under  the  guidance  of  his  reason ;  he 
.has  formed  habits  by  which  his  various  bodily  and 
mental  operations  are  performed  with  ease  and  regu- 
larity ;  his  conduct  has  come  largely  under  the  in- 
fluence of  desires  and  affections ;  he  has  a  sense  of 
duty  and  responsibility  ;  he  has  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  a  world  beyond  the  range  of  his  senses,  and  of 
the  unseen  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  universe,  whom 
he  worships  and  obeys,  and  with  whom  he  holds  con- 
stant communion. 

The  purpose  of  this  little  treatise  will  be  to  trace, 
in  a  simple  way,  the  various  ways  by  which  the  more 
important  of  these  marvellous  changes  have  been 
wrought,  and  to  ascertain,  in  particular,  the  laws  of 
mental  development,  with  a  view  to  their  practical 
application  in  education.  The  teacher  has  not 
merely  to  communicate  appropriate  knowledge  to 
his  pupils,  he  has  to  educate  them,  that  is,  to  bring 
out  their  latent  powers  :  and  all  his  teaching  must  be 
regulated  by  what  children  are.  He  cannot  impart^ 
any  new  faculties  to  them,  or  alter  the  order  in  which 
their  faculties  are  naturally  developed.  Even  the 
knowledge  which  he  communicates  to  them  they  can 
only  grasp  and  assimilate  in  accordance  with  the  im- 
mutable laws  of  the  hum.an  mind.  A  little  reflection 
will  show  the  teacher  that  education  does  not  stand 
alone  in  this  respect,  but  that  all  human  operations 


8  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

are  similarly  limited  by  law.  The  potter  may  seem 
to  be  able  to  give  what  shape  he  likes  to  the  vessel 
which  he  is  making,  but  even  he  is  limited  in  the 
exercise  of  his  will  by  the  nature  of  the  material  in 
which  he  works.  He  cannot  deal  with  clay  as 
though  it  were  wood  or  marble.  He  must  have  re- 
gard to  the  conditions  of  its  plasticity,  to  its  power 
of  supporting  its  own  weight  while  it  is  still  soft 
and  plastic,  and  to  the  effects  which  the  heat  of  the 
furnace  will  have  upon  it.  So  the  teacher  may 
seem  to  be  able  to  mould  a  child  as  he  wills,  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  he  can  mould  it  only  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  its  being.  He  cannot  give  it  a  new 
nature.  He  can  only  utilize  laws  that  already  exist, 
and  any  violation  or  disregard  of  those  laws  is  sure  to 
be  defeated  and  punished.  He  might  as  well  try  to 
make  a  rope  out  of  sand,  or  carry  water  in  a  sieve,  or 
keep  an  unsupported  stone  from  falling,  as  try  to  de- 
feat successfully  the  laws  of  a  child's  being.  All  such 
endeavors  are  doomed,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
to  utter  failure,  and,  in  the  case  of  education,  must 
be  productive  of  disastrous  consequences.  Many  a 
child  is  ruined  for  life,  and  many  children  are  robbed 
even  of  life  itself,  by  the  errors  of  parents  and  teachers 
that  originate  in  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  child-life. 

Value  of  some  knowledge  of  human  physiology 
and   mental   science   to   the  teacher. —  It   is  clear, 


INTRODUCTIOjY.  9 

therefore,  that  the  teacher  shouhl  know  something  of 
the  physical  and  mental  laws  of  the  child  he  is  going 
to  educate,  not  only  that  he  may  avoid  running  coun- 
ter to  nature,  or  to  God's  intention  as  seen  in  natural 
laws,  but  that  he  may  have  the  momentum  of  nature 
on  his  side.  Systems  and  methods  of  education  are 
perfect  in  exact  proportion  as  they  utilize  natural 
laws  ;  and  it  is  the  study  of  these  laws  which  can 
alone  create  a  science  of  education. 

The  teacher  who  disregards  scientific  principles 
must  either  blindly  follow  the  practice  of  others, 
reproducing  their  methods,  whether  good  or  bad, 
without  discrimination,  or  stumble  along  from  one 
blunder  to  another,  until,  at  last,  he  chances  on  some 
method  that  proves  to  be  successful  because  it  happens 
to  fall  in  with  natural  laws.  When  he  ceases  to  rea- 
son upon  the  grounds  of  his  practice,  he  degrades 
his  profession  into  a  mere  mechanical  craft.  Educa- 
tion demands  intelligence  from  the  teacher  at  every 
stage  of  its  conduct)  intelligent  observation  of  the 
facts  of  child-life,  intelligent  generalizations  from 
them,  intelligent  consideration  of  the  relative  value 
of  various  kinds  of  knowledge,  intelligent  applica- 
tion of  principles,  and  intelligent  investigation  of 
the  causes  of  failure  or  success. 

Education  an  Inductive  Science. —  Now  the  first 
wish  of  a  young  teacher,  alive  to  the  importance  of 


lO  CULTIVATION   OF   THE    SENSES. 

Studying  the  science  of  education,  will  probably  be 
to  procure  a  book  in  which  the  principles  of  the 
science  of  education  are  clearly  set  forth  ;  but,  while 
such  a  book  may  be  of  vast  service  to  him,  in  sliow- 
ing  him  the  kinds  of  facts  which  he  should  observe, 
and  the  conclusions  which  have  been  drawn  from 
them  by  writers  who  have  paid  special  attention  to 
the  subject,  nothing  can  compensate  for  the  absence  of 
original  observation  and  reflection.  Education  is 
an  inductive  science,  and  the  student  of  it  must  ob- 
serve for  himself  and  reflect  for  himself  before  he 
can  attain  to  a  thorough  comprehension  of  its  prin- 
ciples, or  make  a  profitable  application  of  them  in 
his  daily  work.  Just  as  the  would-be  botanist  must 
not  content  himself  with  reading  other  people's 
descriptions  of  plants,  or  with  the  examination  of 
diagrams  and  cut-and-dried  specimens,  but  must  go 
out  into  the  woods  and  fields  and  lanes  and  observe 
plants  for  himself,  as  they  live  and  grow,  so  must  the 
teacher,  who  would  be  conversant  with  the  science 
of  education,  make  himself  thoroughly  familiar,  at 
the  first  hand,  with  the  facts  of  child-life.  He  must 
watch  children  when  they  are  left  to  themselves ;  he 
must  note  the  ways  in  which  they  amuse  themselves, 
remembering  that  play  is  to  them  their  most  earnest 
occupation  ;  he  must  observe  their  primitive  instincts, 
and  how  those  instincts  are  naturally  gratified  ;  he 
must  pay  special   heed  to  the  ways  in  which  they, 


INTR  OD  UC  TION.  1 1 

consciously  or  unconsciously,  became  acquainted 
with  the  facts  of  the  world  around  them  ;  to  their 
first  endeavors  at  speech,  as  refl,^cting  the  operations 
that  are  passing  through  their  minds;  to  their  ques- 
tions;  to  the  order  in  which  their  faculties  develop; 
and  to  the  motives  which  exert  the  most  powerlul 
and  healthy  influence  upon  their  conduct.  He  need 
not  go  far  to  find  fitting  objects  for  his  study.  Any 
little  child  into  whose  confidence  he  can,  by  love 
and  sympathy,  insinuate  himself,  will  afford  him 
infinite  room  for  observation  and  reflection,  which 
he  will  be  able  to  turn  to  profitable  account.  When 
no  other  mind  is  at  hand,  let  him  observe  and  in- 
terrogate his  own.  Let  him  ask  himself  the  means 
by  which  he  came  by  this  idea  or  that ;  how  he 
remembers  this,  and  why  he  has  forgotten  that ; 
what  faculties  he  employs  in  one  operation,  and 
what  in  another;  why,  in  his  own  studies,  one 
method  of  learning  succeeds  and  another  does  not, 
and  so  on. 

He  will  find  that  though  this  subject  may  seem  hard 
and  dry  in  a  book,  it  is  fraught  with  interest  when  the 
mind  is  kept  constantly  in  contact  with  living  facts. 
He  will  find,  too,  that  though  he  may  not  see  at  once 
the  practical  application  of  the  truths  which  he  in  this 
way  acquires,  they  will  gradually  affect  his  teaching. 
In  order  to  obtain  the  command  over  Nature,  he  will 
obey  her.     He  may  not  discover  any  wt'fi  method  of 


12 


CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 


teaching,  although  there  is  much  more  yet  to  be  done 
than  most  people  imagine  to  bring  our  systems  of 
teaching  into  accord  with  natural  laws;  but  he  will 
inevitably  teach  more  intelligently,  whether  he  pur- 
sues judiciously  selected  old  methods  or  strikes  out 
paths  of  his  own,  for  the  simple  reason  that  he  knows 
what  he  is  doing,  and  why  he  is  doing  it. 


Chapter  II, 

THE   SENSES. 

ALL  our  knowledge  of  the  world  around  us  is  de- 
rived, in  the  first  place,  from  the  evidence  of 
our  senses,  which  have  been  happily  named  "the  five 
gateways  of  knowledge,"  and  it  is  with  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  senses  that  education  must  begin.  "  The 
famous  town  of  Man-soul,"  says  John  Bunyan,  "had 
five  gates,  in  at  which  to  come  and  out  at  which  to 
go,  and  these  were  made  likewise  answerable  to  the 
walls, — to  wit,  impregnable,  and  such  as  never  could 
be  opened  nor  forced  but  by  the  will  or  leave  of  those 
within.  The  names  of  the  gates  were  these :  Ear- 
gate,  Eye-gate,  Mouth-gate,  Nose -gate,  and  Feel-gate." 
Let  us,  before  we  proceed  any  further,  examine 
these  gateways ;  and  here  it  may  be  remarked  that  we 
shall  learn  a  great  deal  of  the  way  in  which  a  child 
gets  its  ideas  by  observing  how  we  adults  get  our 
own. 

2  13 


14  CULTIVATION  OF   THE  SENSES. 

Taste. —  The  sense  of  taste  enables  us  to  distinguish 
one  kind  of  food  from  another,  and  to  ascertain,  to 
some  extent,  whether  the  food  we  eat  will  agree  with 
us  or  not.  Its  organ  is  the  tongue,  which  has  distrib- 
uted over  its  upper  surface  little  projections  connected 
by  nerves  with  the  brain.  The  most  sensitive  parts 
of  the  tongue  are  its  base,  sides,  and  tip. 

Ideas  derived  through  the  Sense  of  Taste.— Tastes 
may  be  classified 

1.  With  regard  to  the  stomach,  as  palatable  and 
unpalatable. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  taste  proper,  as  sweet  or  bit- 
ter. 

3.  With  regard  to  certain  effects  which  they  have 
on  the  nerves  of  touch,  as  acid,  alkaline,  saline,  as- 
tringent, biting. 

4.  With  regard  to  certain  classes  of  objects  with 
which  they  are  commonly  associated,  as  watery,  vi- 
nous, spicy,  chalybeate. 

Nearly  every  article  of  food  has  a  distinct  flavor 
which  enables  us  to  recognize  it,  if  it  be  familiar 
to  us;  or  to  detect  its  presence,  if  it  be  unfamiliar 
to  us,  by  the  taste  alone.  Solids  do  not  readily 
yield  their  flavor  until  they  are  moistened,  and  the 
tongue  itself  loses  its  sensibility  when  it  is  dry  and 
parched. 

It  is  not  known  how  flavor  affects  the  nerves  of  the 


THE   SENSES.  15 

tongue ;  but  it  is  probable  that  it  is  through  some 
chemical  action. 

The  sense  of  taste  may  be  highly  cultivated,  as  we 
see  in  the  case  of  persons  whose  business  it  is  to  taste 
wines  and  teas.  An  inexperienced  person  would  find 
some  difficulty  in  distinguishing  one  sherry  from 
another,  but  a  wine-taster  will  not  only  distinguish 
them,  he  will  tell  you,  perhaps,  the  precise  district 
from  which  they  came,  and  the  very  year  in  which 
they  were  made. 

But  the  sense  of  taste  cannot  be  made  much  use  of 
in  formal  education.  "  Helpless,  selfish  and  exacting, 
the  dependent  of  the  other  senses,  and  the  servant  of 
the  body  rather  than  of  the  soul,  it  links  us  more  with 
the  lower  animals  than  with  higher  existences,  and  has 
no  elements  of  ethereality  about  it." 

Smell. —  The  sense  of  smell  enables  us  to  discrimi- 
nate the  air  taken  into  the  lungs,  just  as  the  tongue, 
which  has  been  called  "the  stomach  begun,"  enables 
us  to  discriminate  the  food  taken  into  the  stomach. 
Its  organ  is  the  nose,  which  is  lined  with  a  soft,  moist, 
velvety  membrane,  connected  by  nerves  known  as  the 
olfactory  nerves  (from  Latin,  olfacio,  to  smell),  and 
by  branches  of  another  nerve  known  as  the  fifth.  It 
is  on  the  former  that  odors  proper  a.ct ;  on  the  latter 
act  pungent  vapors  such  as  hartshorn,  strong  acids, 
etc. 


1 6  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

Ideas  derived  through  the  Sense  of  Smell.—  Odors 
may  be  classified 

1.  With  regard  to  the  lungs,  as  fresh,  close,  exhil- 
arating, stifling. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  smell  proper,  as  sweet,  offen- 
sive, nasty. 

3.  With  regard  to  tlie  nerves  of  touch,  as  pungent, 
acrid,  etc. 

4.  With  regard  to  certain  objects  and  processes 
with  which  they  are  most  commonly  associated,  as 
fishy,  briny,  spicy,  cheesy,  musty,  etc. 

The  mode  in  which  the  organ  of  smell  acts  is  un- 
known. All  we  can  say  is  that  the  air  brings  the 
volatile  odorous  matter  into  contact  with  the  various 
branches  of  the  nerves  of  smell,  and  that  in  some 
way  or  other  these  nerves  convey  the  impression  to 
the  brain. 

The  sense  of  smell  is  more  highly  developed  in 
many  of  the  lower  animals  than  in  man ;  but  even  in 
man  it  is  capable  of  a  high  degree  of  cultivation,  as 
we  may  see  in  the  case  of  persons  whose  business  it  is 
to  distinguish  nice  differences  of  odor.  The  tobacco- 
dealer,  the  botanist,  the  wine-dealer,  and  the  perfume- 
maker  can  detect  differences  of  odor  which  ordinary 
people  could  not  perceive. 

The  sensations  of  smell  are  very  marked  whilst  they 
last,  but  they  are,  comparatively  speaking,  rare  and 
transient.     The  odors  which  produce  them  are  all  of 


THE   SENSES.  1 7 

a  gaseous  or  volatile  nature,  and,  for  the  most  part, 
quickly  pass  away. 

Touch. —  The  organ  of  touch  is  the  skin,  which 
contains  under  the  cuticle  little  projections  called 
papillcE,  connected  by  nerves  with  the  brain.  These 
papillce  are  spread  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  skin, 
but  are  most  numerous  on  the  tips  of  the  fingers,  the 
palms  of  the  hands,  and  the  soles  of  the  feet.  The 
sense  of  touch  operates  hj  pressure  or  simple  contact. 

Ideas  derived  through  the  Sense  of  Touch. —  The 

sense  of  touch  enables  us  to  ascertain  tlie  form,  sur- 
face, and  temperature,  and,  in  combination  with 
muscular  feeling,  the  resistance,  weight  and  pressure, 
of  bodies  submitted  to  it.  Sensations  of  touch  may 
be  classified 

1.  With  regard  to  the  pleasure  or  pain  which  ac- 
companies them,  as  agreeable,  disagreeable. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  peculiar  feelings  produced 
by  different  temperatures,  as  hot,  cold,  lukewarm, 
chilly. 

3.  With  regard  to  various  peculiar  sensations  of 
the  skin  produced  by  the  action  of  external  bodies, 
as  chafing,  pricking,  fretting,  tickling. 

4.  With  regard  to  singularity  or  plurality  of  points 
of  contact. 

5.  With  regard  to  pressure,  as  heavy,  light. 

2*  B 


1 8  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

6.  With  regard  to  resistance,  as  hard,  soft,  firm, 
yielding,  solid,  liquid,  elastic,  plastic. 

7.  With  regard  to  surface,  as  rough,  smooth,  wavy, 
dimpled,  pitted. 

8.  With  regard  to  extension,*  as  straight,  curved, 
crooked,  square,  oblong,  triangle,^  cube,  pyramid, 
sphere,  etc. 

Some  of  these  ideas  are  of  such  vast  importance  in 
mental  development,  that  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
examine  into  them  a  little  more  closely. 

Plurality  of  Points  of  Contact.  —  A  distinctive 
feature  in  the  sense  of  touch,  as  compared  with  taste 
and  smell,  is  the  consciousness  which  may  accompany 
it  of  a  plurality  of  points ;  or  of  an  extended  surface 
in  the  object  submitted  to  it.  A  taste  or  an  odor 
presents  itself  to  us  as  a  whole  and  undivided  sensa- 
tion, although  it  is  really  not  so,  the  separate  sensa- 
tions occurring  so  closely  together  that  we  are  not 
conscious  of  their  separation  ;  but  touch  may  afford 
us  a  manifold  sensation.  Smell  a  rose  and  the  sensa- 
tion is  single  ;  place  your  hand  on  the  bristle  side  of 
a  hair-brush,  and  you  are  conscious  of  a  multiplicity 
of  separate  points.     You  experience  the  same  sensa- 

*  Extension  is  that  property  of  matter  in  virtue  of  which  it 
occupies  space.  It  relates  to  the  qualities  of  dimension,  viz. : 
length,  breadth,  and  thickness  ;  and  may  be  classified  as  linear, 
superficial,  and  cubical. 


THE   SENSES.  1 9 

lion,  in  a  less  degree,  when  you  place  your  hand  on  a 
smooth  surface. 

This  simultaneous  consciousness  of  a  plurality  of 
points  helps  to  give  us  ideas  of  extension,  form,  and 
surface.  Feel  a  body  that  can  be  covered  by  the 
hand,  or,  still  better,  by  the  finger,  and  you  can  tell 
fairly  well  by  touch  alone  what  is  its  shai)e,  and  what 
is  the  character  of  its  surface ;  you  can  tell  whether 
it  is  round,  or  square,  or  oval ;  and  whether  the 
points  on  its  surface  are  many  or  few,  sharp  or  blunt. 
These  discoveries  are,  of  course,  facilitated  by  mov- 
ing the  hand  over  and  around  the  bodies  examined  ; 
but  here  muscular  feeling  comes  to  the  assistance  of 
touch.  We  judge  of  the  outline  and  surface  partly 
by  the  resistances  we  experience  in  passing  our  hands 
over  them. 

Pressure,  Resistance,  and  Weight. — When  a  weight 
rests  upon  any  portion  of  the  skin,  we  are  conscious 
of  a  compression  of  the  part  of  the  body  affected  by 
it.  If  the  part  of  the  body  be  unsupported,  we  are 
further  conscious  of  an  expenditure  of  muscular 
energy.  For  instance,  if  a  weight  be  placed  on  your 
outstretched  hand  when  it  rests  upon  the  table,  you 
are  conscious  of  a  pressure  proportionate  to  the 
weight ;  if  your  hand  be  not  supported,  you  are  fur- 
ther conscious  of  an  effort  expended  in  sustaining 
the  weight.     The  degree  of  pressure,  and  the  amount 


20  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

of  energy  expended,  enabled  us  to  roughly  estimate 
weights.  "  Weber  found  that  the  tips  of  the  fingers 
[the  hand  being  supported]  could  discriminate  be- 
tween 20  ounces  and  19.2  ounces,  and  the  forearm 
20  ounces  from  18.7  ounces."  An  ordinary  person 
can  discriminate  with  the  unsupported  arm  between 
39  and  40  ounces. 

But  we  are  mainly  indebted  for  our  ideas  of  press- 
ure, resistance,  and  weight,  to  the  consciousness  that 
accompanies  muscu/ar  effort.  That  consciousness 
informs  us 

1.  Of  the  degree  of  the  effort. 

2.  Of  the  time  during  which  it  lasts,  in  the  case 
of  muscular  movements. 

3.  Of  the  space  through  which  the  effort  is  made. 

4.  Of  the  speed  with  which  it  is  made. 

Extension. — When  we  move  our  hand  over  an  ob- 
ject, we  are  conscious 

1.  Of  a  plurality  and  a  succession  of  points  in  the 
object. 

2.  Of  the  expenditure  of  a  certain  amount  of  mus- 
cular energy  in  passing  from  point  to  point.  This 
plurality  and  continuity  of  sensations  of  touch,  to- 
gether with  simultaneous  muscular  efforts  and  visual 
impressions,  help  to  give  us  our  ideas  of  extension 
and  form. 

A  blind  child  might  have  distinct  ideas  of  exten- 


THE   SENSES.  21 

sion.  By  passing  its  finger  along  the  edge  of  a  ruler, 
it  might  get  the  idea  of  linear  extension,  or  of  a  con- 
tinuous succession  of  points  in  a  line.  By  extending 
its  hand  over  the  surface  of  a  slate  it  might  get  the 
idea  of  superficial  extension,  or  of  the  continuous 
succession  of  points  [jresente.i  by  the  same  body  in 
two  different  directions.  By  extending  the  hand  over 
the  sides  and  back  of  a  book  it  might  get  an  idea  of 
cubical  extension.  The  flexibility  of  the  fingers,  en- 
abling the  hand  to  close  around  a  body,  and  the  pos- 
session of  two  hands,  enabling  us  to  touch  two  sides 
of  a  body  simultaneously,  greatly  facilitate  the  ac- 
quisition of  ideas  of  cubical  extension. 

Form,  Size,  Situation,  Distance  and  Direction  are 

only  various  modes  of  extension. 

Ideas  of  Form  may  be  derived  from  noting 

1.  The  succession  of  points  presented  to  the  touch 
in  following  the  outline  of  an  object. 

2.  The  muscular  efl'orts  simultaneously  required  to 
direct  the  hand. 

The  Size  of  an  object  cannot  be  precisely  determined 
by  the  sense  of  touch,  A  hole  in  a  tooth,  that  would 
be  scarcely  perceptible  to  the  finger,  seems  a  consid- 
erable cavity  when  touched  by  the  tip  of  the  tongue. 
The  points  of  a  pair  of  compasses,  when  drawn  over 
the  skin,  will  seem  to  widen  or  contract  according  as 
they  are  drawn  respectively  over  the   more  or  less 


22  CULTIVATION   OF   THE   SENSES. 

sensitive  parts  of  the  skin.  Ideas  of  size  may  be 
obtained  by  noting  the  muscular  effort  required  in 
passing  the  hand  around  the  bodies  examined,  and 
comparing  it  with  the  times  occupied  in  the  process. 

Ideas  of  Distance  may  be  obtained  from  the  amount 
of  muscular  effort  required  in 

1.  Passing  the  hand  from  one  extremity  of  the  dis- 
tance measured  to  the  other. 

2.  In  going  from  the  one  point  to  the  other. 

3.  In  directing  the  eye  from  one  point  to  the  other. 

Ideas  of  Direction  and  Situation,  or  of  place  rela- 
tively to  ourselves  and  to  other  things,  may  be  derived 
from  noting  the  particular  muscular  efforts  needed  to 
pass  from  one  point  to  another.  For  instance,  I  am 
conscious  of  employing  one  set  of  muscles  in  passing 
my  hand  from  my  body  to  this  page,  and  of  another 
set  in  passing  from  the  top  of  this  page  to  the  bottom. 

It  might  seem  to  the  young  student  that  the  origin 
of  some  of  these  ideas  might  be  more  easily  accounted 
for  by  referring  them  to  sight  rather  than  touch  ;  but, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  many  properties  of  things 
which  we  seem  to  see  directly  with  the  eye,  we  really 
learn  by  a  comparison  of  the  impressions  made  by  sight 
and  touch.  It  will,  of  course,  be  remembered  that  a 
child  often  employs  different  senses  simultaneously 
on  the  same  object,  and  is  in  this  way  enabled  to 
compare  and  combine  the  impressions  made  by  them. 
For  instance,  it  sees  a  ball  at  the  same  time  that  it 


THE   SENSES.  23 

feels  it,  and  gradually  associates  the  distribution  of 
light  and  shadow  on  its  surface  with  the  sphericity 
perceived  by  touch,  until  at  last  it  seems  to  see  di- 
rectly the  sphericity  itself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we 
do  not  immediately  see  what  is  called  tangible  form, 
or  cubical  extension ;  we  see  only  linear  and  super- 
ficial extension,  and  reason  as  to  the  actual  form  of 
a  body  from  the  distribution  of  light  on  its  surface. 
The  sense  of  touch  may  be  highly  cultivated.  The 
blind  man  reads  by  passing  his  fingers  over  the  char- 
acters of  an  embossed  page;  the  miller  tests  the  fine- 
ness of  his  flour  with  his  thumb ;  the  physician  follows 
the  nicest  variations  of  a  patient's  pulse  with  his  fin- 
gers. Professor  Upham  mentions  the  case  of  a  blind 
girl,  in  Hartford  Asylum,  who,  when  the  baskets  of 
linen  were  brought  from  the  laundress,  was  able  to 
select  her  own  articles  without  hesitation,  no  matter 
how  widely  they  were  mixed  up  with  those  of  other 
people. 

Hearing. —  The  organ  of  hearing  is  the  ear,  a  com- 
plex instrument,  of  which  the  so-called  ear  is  but  the 
outer  porch.  Its  mode  of  action  is  as  follows :  — 
When  material  bodies  are  struck  or  otherwise  vio- 
lently disturbed,  they  are  thrown  into  a  state  of 
vibration.  This  vibration  is  communicated  to  the 
surrounding  air,  the  vibrations  of  which  ultimately 
enter  the  outer  ear,  and  strike  upon  the  membrane 


24  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

called  the  tympanum.  The  vibrations  of  the  tym- 
panum are  communicated  to  a  series  of  bones  extend- 
ing to  another  membrane,  viz.,  that  of  the  labyrinth 
or  internal  ear,  and  are  then  transmitted,  by  the  con- 
sequent compressions  of  a  liquid  inside  the  labyrinth, 
to  the  auditory  nerve. 

Ideas  derived  through  the  Sense  of  Hearing. — 

Sounds  may  be  classified  with  reference  to 

1.  The  pleasure  or  pain  they  afford,  as  pleasant, 
sweet,  harsh,  jarring,  discordant,  melodious,  harmo- 
nious, etc. 

2.  Their  intensity,  as  loud,  soft,  waning,  waxing, 
etc. 

3.  Their  pitch,  as  high,  low,  shrill,  etc. 

4.  Their  occurrence  in  time,  as  sudden,  long, 
intermittent,  sustained,  irregular,  fitful,  rhythmical, 
etc. 

5.  Their  distinctness,  as  clear,  impure,  muffled,  etc. 

6.  Their  purity,  as  true,  false,  sharp,  flat. 

7.  Their  articulateness,  as  distinct,  indistinct. 

8.  With  regard  to  various  objects  with  which  cer- 
tain acoustic  peculiarities  are  familiarly  associated,  as 
metallic,  wooden,  hollow,  solid,  liquid,  brassy,  tinny, 
etc. 

It  is  worth  noticing  that  large  numbers  of  words 
referring  to  sounds  are  imitative,  or  have  been  coined 
to  imitate  the  sounds;  thus,  crash,  dash,  splash,  bump, 


THE   SENSES.  2$ 

bang,  crack,  roar,  mew,  jingle,  jangle,  jar,  thud  (the 
sound  produced  by  a  heavy  body  falling  from  a  great 
height  to  the  ground),  whiz,  cluck,  quack,  ping  (the 
sound  of  a  rifle-ball  passing  though  the  air),  whir, 
buzz,  hum,  hush,  patter,  etc.  Words  of  this  class, 
not  being  arbitrary  coinages,  are  among  the  earliest 
children  learn,  and  are  often  coined  by  them. 

The  Distance  of  a  known  sound  is  inferred  from 
its  intensity  as  compared  with  its  known  intensities 
for  known  distances.  The  distance  of  unknown 
sounds  can  only  be  roughly  calculated  by  compar- 
ison with  known  sounds  to  which  they  bear  some 
likeness.  In  neither  case  is  the  distance  heard.  It 
is  inferred. 

The  Direction  of  a  sound  is  inferred  from  the 
varying  intensity  of  the  sound  as  presented  to  our 
two  ears,  or  according  as  we  have  to  turn  our  head  to 
right  or  left,  up  or  down,  to  hear  it  more  distinctly. 

The  sense  of  hearing  is  more  susceptible  of  educa- 
tion than  that  of  sight,  and  it  can  be  developed  more 
quickly.  Infants  at  a  very  early  stage  delight  in 
melodious  and  rhythmical  sounds,  as  we  may  see 
from  the  pleasure  which  they  take  in  the  lullabies  of 
their  mothers  and  nurses,  in  nursery  rhymes,  in  the 
measured  sound  of  marching,  and  in  all  forms  of 
music.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  highest  musical 
authorities  that  every  child  could  be  taught  to  sing 
and  to  enjoy  music,  if  taken  in  hand  at  a  sufficiently 
3 


26  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

early  stage.  To  what  a  high  degree  of  cultivation 
the  ear  may  be  brought  may  be  seen  in  the  case  of 
the  conductor  of  an  orchestra,  who,  with  hundreds 
of  performers  before  him,  can  not  only  detect  any 
false  note,  but  single  out  the  part  in  which  it  occurs. 
Not  less  marvellous  is  the  rapidity  with  which  infants 
learn  to  analyze  and  reproduce  the  marvellous  intri- 
cacies of  articulate  speech.  Of  all  the  senses  hearing 
is  the  sense  "  which  most  readily  and  most  largely 
lends  itself  to  the  impassioned,  emotional,  or,  as  we 
otherwise  name  it,  poetical  or  gesthetical  feeling." 

Sight. — The  organ  of  sight  is  the  eye,  which  has 
been  described  as  "  a  compound  optical  lens  in  com- 
munication with  a  sensitive  surface."  The  mode  of 
its  action  is  as  follows:  — The  rays  of  light  proceed- 
ing from  any  object  that  is  looked  at  are  so  refracted 
on  entering  the  pupil  of  the  eye  as  to  form  an  inverted 
image  of  the  object  on  the  retina.  The  object,  in 
order  to  be  seen,  must  be  at  or  beyond  a  certain  dis- 
tance from  the  eye.  If  it  be  within  the  distance,  the 
rays  will  converge  behind  the  retina,  instead  of  upon 
it.  The  eye  has  a  power  of  adjustment  by  which  it 
is  enabled  to  adapt  itself  to  the  varying  distances  of 
objects.  The  two  eyes  are  made  to  converge  for 
near  objects,  and  a  different  image  is  formed  on  the 
retina  of  each,  the  two  images  being  unconsciously 
mentally  compounded.     Thus,  if  I  hold  a  book  on 


THE   SENSES.  27 

the  tips  of  my  fingers  at  a  distance  of  about  five  or 
six  inches  from  my  nose,  and  look  at  it  alternately 
with  my  right  and  left  eye,  it  seems  to  shift  its  posi- 
tion to  the  left  and  right  alternately.  When  I  look 
at  it  with  both  my  eyes,  it  assumes  an  intermediate 
position,  and  presents  an  appearance  different  from 
that  which  is  beheld  by  either  eye  when  the  other  is 
closed. 

In  looking  at  distant  objects,  the  eyes  preserve 
their  parallelism.  The  muscular  efforts  involved  in 
these  various  adjustments  is  of  assistance  in  determin- 
ing the  distance  of  objects  that  are  looked  at.  We 
are  also  largely  assisted  in  estimating  the  distance  of 
objects  by  the  degrees  of  distinctness  of  their  outlines 
and  colors,  compared  with  certain  standards  for  known 
objects.     We  do  not  see  the  distance ;  we  infer  it. 

Ideas  derived  from  the  Sense  of  Sight. —  The  ob- 
jects of  sight  may  be  classified  with  regard 

1.  To  the  sensations,  or  the  peculiar  feelings  which 
accompany  them,  as  soothing,  blinding,  dazzling,  etc. 

2.  To  light,  as  luminous,  dark,  shadowy,  dappled, 
flecked,  etc. 

3.  To  color,  as  of  red,  blue,  yellow,  etc. 

4.  To  lustre,  as  bright,  dull,  brilliant,  dead,  glit- 
tering. 

5.  To  movements,  as  stationary,  dancing,  steady, 
moving,  undulating,  unsteady,  etc. 


28  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

6.  To  visible  form,  as  straight,  zigzag,  curvilinear, 
square,  oblong,  triangular,  circular,  oval,  etc. 

7.  To  size,  as  large,  small,  vast,  enormous,  infini- 
tesimal. 

8.  To  distance,  as  near,  remote,  distant. 

9.  To  situation,  as  east,  west,  north,  south. 

10.  To  typical  objects  with  which  peculiar  visual 
impressions  are  familiarly  associated,  as  solid,  liquid, 
icy,  glassy,  golden,  silvery,  emerald,  steely,  coppery, 
slaty,  fishy,  etc. 

Color  is  not  an  essential  quality  of  bodies,  as  solid- 
ity and  extension  are,  but  a  secondary  quality,*  like 
temperature,  smell,  and  taste.     It  is  produced  by  the 

*The  qualities  of  material  olijects  are  divided  into  primary 
and  secondary.  The  primary  qualities  are  such  that  we  cannot 
conceive  bodies  to  exist  without  them.  Such  are  extension  and 
solidity.  They  exist  outside  the  mind,  and  might  continue  to 
exist  even  if  there  were  no  sentient  beings  to  perceive  them. 
The  secondary  qualities  of  material  objects  are  such  as  are  not 
essential,  and  yet  have  the  power  of  producing  sensations  in  a 
sentient  being.  Such  are  color,  taste,  smell,  temperature,  etc. 
The  young  student  should  notice  that  words  denoting  these 
qualities  are  used  in  two  senses,  viz. : 

1.  To  denote  the  quality  in  the  oliject  producing  sensation. 

2.  To  denote  the  sensations  produced  by  the  quality.  Thus 
heat  may  denote 

1.  A  quality  in  fire,  or 

2.  The  effect  which  such  quality  has  upon  a  sentient  being. 


THE   SENSES.  29 

action  of  certain  qualities  of  objects  upon  the  eye, 
and  the  effect  varies  with  the  eye  acted  upon.  Some 
persons,  like  the  celebrated  Dalton,  are  insensible  to 
certain  differences  of  color. 

Movement. —  We  are  rendered  visually  conscious 
of  the  movement  of  an  object  by  the  muscular  effort 
required  to  follow  it,  as  when  we  follow  the  flight  of 
a  bird,  and  by  noting  its  varying  distance  from  ob- 
jects that  are  stationary. 

Superficial  Form.  —  We  perceive  superficial  form 
visually  by  a  simultaneous  or  continuous  consciousness 
of  the  visible  points  which,  in  their  continuity,  make 
up  its  surface,  and  also,  if  the  object  looked  at  be 
large,  by  the  muscular  efforts  which  accompany  the 
process  of  following  its  outline.  The  movements  of 
the  eyeball  are  much  more  frequent  than  is  commonly 
believed.  Read  with  one  eye  and  feel  the  sympa- 
thetic movement  of  the  closed  eye,  by  putting  the 
finger  on  the  lid,  and  you  will  be  conscious  of  the 
constant  shifting  of  the  eye  in  reading  along  even  a 
short  line  of  print.  Similarly,  in  looking  at  a  land- 
scape, we  do  not  see  the  whole  of  it  at  once,  but  shift 
the  vision  from  point  to  point.  We  are  dimly  con- 
scious of  the  whole ;  we  see  distinctly  only  a  part  at 
a  time. 

3* 


30  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

Solid  Form. — We  visually  perceive  solid  form  partly 
by  combining  the  consciousness  of  muscular  effort 
required  to  follow  with  the  eye  its  three  dimensions, 
with  certain  remembered  coincidences  of  muscular 
efforts  and  tactile  sensations,  and  partly  by  associ- 
ating the  distribution  of  light  on  the  surfaces  of  the 
object  with  past  tactile  sensations  produced  by  the 
same  object,  or  by  similar  objects.  The  light,  for 
instance,  on  a  cube  is  unequally  distributed.  The 
top  may  be  in  a  bright  light,  the  front  in  a  light  less 
intense,  and  the  third  visible  side  in  a  deep  shadow. 
If  we  pass  the  hand  over  the  cube,  we  notice  the 
coincidence  of  the  various  lights  on  the  three  visible 
planes  with  the  altered  directions  of  the  hand.  It 
is  by  associating  the  modes  in  which  the  light  is  dis- 
tributed over  objects  with  past  tactile  and  visual  ex- 
periences that  we  recognize  the  form  of  solid  objects 
represented  on  a  flat  picture.  We,  as  it  were,  inter- 
pret the  visual  impressions  by  remembered  tactile 
impressions.  The  eye  is  easily  deceived  by  repre- 
sentations of  solid  form,  and  would  be  entirely  de- 
ceived if  the  representation  were  perfect.  Even  in 
a  room  with  a  comparatively  low  ceiling,  the  sham- 
painted  cornice  looks  so  like  an  actual  projection 
as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  from  one.  The 
poet  Young  had  a  sham  scat  painted  in  his  garden, 
which  visitors  used  to  walk  up  to  before  they  dis- 
covered  the  cheat.     It  bore  the  appropriate  motto, 


THE   SENSES.  3 1 

^^Tnvisibilia  non  decipiurit.'"  (The  invisible  does  not 
deceive.) 

Persons  who  have  suffered  from  congenital  cataract, 
and  have  had  the  cataract  removed,  see  objects,  at 
first,  as  though  they  were  perfectly  T?^//,  like  a  picture, 
and  it  is  only  by  slow  degrees  that  they  learn  to  asso- 
ciate the  new  visual  impressions  with  the  old  tactile 
ones.  A  boy  who  had  been  blind  from  birth,  and 
acquired  sight  by  an  operation  performed  on  him 
when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  was  well  acquainted 
with  a  dog  and  cat  which  he  used  to  play  with,  but 
he  could  not  distinguish  which  was  which,  when  he 
first  saw  them,  without  taking  them  up  and  feeling 
them. 

The  sight  may  be  highly  cultivated.  The  sailor 
can  see  a  distant  ship  long  before  the  inexperienced 
landsman.  The  artist  can  perceive  slight  differences 
of  form  and  color,  and  light  and  direction,  which  the 
untaught  eye  cannot.  "  The  Escpiimaux  can  discover 
a  white  fox  amidst  the  white  snow;  the  American 
backwoodsman  will  fire  a  rifle-ball  so  as  to  strike  a 
nut  out  of  the  mouth  of  a  squirrel  without  hurting  it ; 
Indian  boys  hold  their  hands  up  as  marks  to  each 
other,  certain  that  the  unerring  arrow  will  be  shot 
between  the  spread-out  fingers ;  the  astronomer  can 
see  a  star  in  the  sky,  where  to  others  the  blue  expanse 
is  unbroken  ;  the  shepherd  can  distinguish  the  face 
of  every  sheep  in  his  flock  ;   the  mosaic  worker  can 


32  CULTIVATION   OF  THE   SENSES. 

detect  distinctions  of  colors  where  others  can  see 
none."  The  visual  perception  of  children  at  first 
is  very  imperfect,  as  we  may  see  from  their  early 
attempts  at  writing  and  drawing.  They  will,  for 
instance,  often  make  an  S  thus  2,  and  will  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  inaccuracy  even  when  it  is  pointed  out  to 
them.  And  even  later  in  life,  there  are  many  per- 
sons who  cannot  strike  a  nail  on  the  head  or  draw 
a  straight  line,  or  tell  whether  a  line  is  vertical,  or 
horizontal  or  not,  or  whether  the  lines  of  a  building 
seen  in  perspective  go  up  or  down,  or  dispose  the 
ornaments  on  a  mantelpiece  with  some  approach  to 
symmetry.  This  partial  blindness  (for  such  it  may 
be  considered)  might  in  all  cases  be  cured  by  judi- 
ciously devised  exercises. 

Organic  Sensations. —  In  addition  to  the  sensations 
of  taste,  smell,  touch,  hearing,  and  sight,  we  have 
another  class  of  sensations  connected  with  our  mus- 
cular system,  our  nervous  system,  our  circulation  and 
nutrition,  our  respiration,  our  feelings  of  heat  and 
cold,  and  with  the  alimentary  canal.  Such  are  the 
pains  occasioned  by  over-straining  or  otherwise  injur- 
ing the  muscles;  the  pain  of  fatigue,  the  pleasure  of 
repose ;  the  exhilaration  produced  by  the  action  on 
the  nerves  of  stimulants,  the  depression  that  follows 
nervous  excitement ;  hunger  and  thirst ;  the  discom- 
fort that  arises  from  long  continuance  in  any  one 


THE   SENSES.  33 

posture ;  the  freshness  that  accompanies  the  breath- 
ing of  pure  air;  the  sense  of  suffocation  that  arises 
from  the  want  of  air,  from  asthma,  and  from  certain 
gases ;  sensations  produced  by  heat  and  cold  acting 
on  the  circulation  and  respiration  ;  relish,  disgust,  etc. 

Definition  of  Sensation  —  We  are  now  in  a  posi- 
tion to  define  sensation.  A  sensation  is  the  impres- 
sion made  on  the  mind  by  the  action  of  some  external 
object  on  a  part  of  the  body,  or  by  the  action  of  one 
part  of  the  body  on  another  part. 

Sensations  are  to  be  distinguished  from  muscular 
feelings,  which'are  produced  by  the  consciousness  of 
the  possession  of  energy,  or  by  the  expenditure  of 
energy  in  work  done  ;  and  also  from  the  emotions, 
which,  though  they  may  be  excited  by  external  agen- 
cies, are  not^ produced  by  contact  between  external 
objects  and  the  sensitive  surface  of  the  body. 

Each  Sense  has  its  own  Function.  —  The  senses 
have  distinct  provinces  assigned  to  them,  though  in 
some  cases  the  impressions  made  on  different  senses 
may  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.  Thus,  I  may  feel 
that  a  ring  is  round  by  passing  my  finger  round  it, 
or  I  may  see  that  it  is  round.  But  the  sensation 
which  I  derive  through  my  touch  bears  no  resemblance 
to  the  sensation  derived  through  my  sight.  Hence 
no  skill  on  the  i^art  of  the  teacher,  and  no  amount 
C 


34  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

of  illustration  or  description,  can  convey  to  a  child 
lacking  in  a  sense  any  notion  of  the  sensations  con- 
veyed by  that  sense.  No  description,  for  instance, 
could  make  a  blind  child  understand  what  was  meant 
by  red,  or  a  deaf  child  what  was  meant  by  music.  A 
blind  man  on  being  asked  what  red  was,  is  reported 
to  have  replied  that  it  was  something  like  the  sound 
of  a  trumpet ! 

Each  sense  must  be  independently  exercised  before 
any  notion  can  be  formed  of  its  proper  sensations. 
The  gateways  of  the  mind  open  only  to  their  own 
particular  class  of  acts,  and  are  rigidly  closed  to  all 
others.  Still  less  can  mere  words  convey  notions  of 
new  sensations.* 

Comparison  of  Services  rendered  by  the  Senses. — 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  senses  vary  very  considerably 

*  Teachers  sometimes  overlook  this  fact,  and  imagine  that 
because  words  describing  sensations  can  reach  the  mind,  notions 
of  the  sensations  must  reach  it  also.  Words  can  revive  the  idea 
of  a  past  sensation,  but  they  cannot  impart  the  idea  of  an  en- 
tirely new  sensation.  Real  knowledge  must  be  acquired,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  through  the  exercise  of  the  senses  which 
are  affected  by  the  objects  of  knowledge.  We  must  see  what 
can  be  learnt  by  sight  only ;  we  must  touch  what  can  be  learnt 
by  touch  only,  and  so  on.  Teachers  often  take  their  knowledge 
to  the  wrong  gateway,  and  sometimes  disregard  the  gateways 
altogether.  They  might  as  well  try  to  give  a  child  an  idea  of  a 
picture  by  getting  him  to  smell  it. 


THE   SENSES.  35 

in  the  extent  to  which  they  contribute  to  furnish  the 
mind  with  ideas.  Thus  taste  and  smell,  although  they 
are  sources  of  much  pleasure  and  pain,  and  render  in- 
valuable services  to  us,  as  door-keepers  to  the  stomach 
and  lungs,  are  restricted  to  a  small  class  of  objects, 
and  the  permanent  impressions  which  they  leave  on 
the  mind  are  comparatively  feeble.  Large  numbers 
of  objects  with  which  we  are  familiar  through  our  other 
senses  we  never  dream  of  tasting,  and  a  still  larger 
number  have  no  odor  which  we  are  capable  of  smell- 
ing. Again,  though  we  can  recall  with  ease  the  pain 
or  pleasure  which  accompanied  past  sensations  of  taste 
and  smell,  it  is  only  with  difficulty  we  recall  the  sen- 
sations themselves,  when  the  objects  which  produced 
them  are  no  longer  present.  Thus  I  can  vividly  recall 
the  form  and  color  and  surface  and  parts  of  a  rose  ; 
but  I  have  considerable  difficulty  in  recalling  its  fra- 
grance, although  I  could  immediately  identify  the 
odor  if  it  were  presented  to  me. 

Sight,  touch,  and  hearing  are  the  senses  to  which 
we  are  indebted  for  the  larger  number  of  our  ideas ; 
and  the  ideas  which  originate  with  them  are  the  most 
vividly  stamped  upon  the  mind.  Hence  they  are 
sometimes  called  the  intellectual  senses.  It  is  with 
these  education  is  mainly  concerned. 


^xij 


Chapter  III. 

HOW   THE   CHILD   GETS   HIS   FIRST   IDEAS. 


WE  will  now 
Iving  in  th 


'E  will  now  return  to  the  infant  whom  we  left 
ing  in  the  cradle,  and  inquire  how  the  im- 
pressions made  upon  his  senses  will  convey  notions  to 
his  mind. 

At  present  he  knows  nothing.  His  senses  receive 
various  impressions  of  light,  warmth,  color,  sound, 
taste,  resistance,  etc.,  but  he  does  not  as  yet  distin- 
guish them,  and,  of  course,  cannot  identify  them. 
All  you  can  say  of  his  present  condition  of  mind  is, 
that  it  is  possessed  by  a  diversified  consciousness. 
The  first  exercise  of  his  mind  will  occur  when  he  be- 
comes conscious  of  some  change  of  feeling,  such  as 
would  be  produced  by  the  striking  of  a  clock,  or  by 
the  sudden  bringing  of  a  bright  light  into  a  darkened 
room. 


The  Consciousness  of  TJnlikeness  between  diiFer- 
ent  Sensations. —  A  continuous  impression  made  upon 

36 


dJAIt  nUliiVlAL  Ou.. 

7^(9 ^F  7W£   CHILD   GETS   HIS   FIRST  IDEAS.     37 

the  infant's  senses  would  not  be  noticed,  for  there 
would  be  nothing  to  direct  attention  to  it.  If,  for 
instance,  the  heat  or  light  of  the  room  in  which  he 
lives  never  varied,  he  would  not  notice  them.  He 
would  first  notice  the  sensation  of  heat  on  some 
change  of  temperature,  as  from  heat  to  cold,  or  from 
cold  to  heat.  He  would  first  notice  the  sensation  of 
light  on  some  transition  from  light  to  darkness,  or 
from  darkness  to  light. 

"The  first  dawn  of  intelligence  consists  in  change  of 
feeling,  by  which  differences  begin  to  be  recognized. 
Mind  commences  in  this  perception  of  differences; 
it  cannot  be  said  that  we  know  anything  of  itself, 
but  only  the  differences  between  it  and  other  things." 

The  Consciousness  of  Likeness  between  different 
Sensations. —  When  the  child  has  a  second  experience 
of  the  same  sensation  he  will  be  conscious  of  some 
resemblance  between  the  two.  This  consciousness 
of  likeness  will  be  deepened  with  each  repetition,  so 
long  as  his  attention  is  drawn  to  the  likeness.  The 
impression  made  by  the  sound  of  the  clock-stroke 
will  grow  familiar  to  his  mind.  The  impression  made 
by  the  light  of  the  candle  will  come  to  be  recognized 
at  each  recurrence  of  it.  In  this  way,  through  the 
simultaneous  perception  of  differences  and  resem- 
blances between  the  impressions  made  upon  his 
senses,  he  will  gradually  come  to  distinguish  the 
4 


38  CULTIVATION  OF  THE   SENSES. 

impressions  made  upon  different  senses  from  the  im- 
pressions made  upon  the  same  sense.  He  will  mentally 
separate  sight  from  sounds,  and  one  sight  or  sound 
from  another,  and  so  on. 

Repetition  Essential  to  the  Formation  of  clear 
Ideas  and  to  their  Retention. —  Before  an  idea  can 
become  clear,  and  be  permanently  retained  by  the 
mind,  it  must  be  repeated.  The  first  time  the  child 
hears  a  voice  break  the  silence  he  will  notice  the  dif- 
ference between  his  present  and  previous  state  of 
feeling ;  but  as  soon  as  the  sound  has  died  away  he 
will  have  but  a  very  imperfect  recollection  of  the 
sound,  because  there  is  nothing  to  link  on  to  it,  ex- 
cept, perhaps,  the  contrast  with  the  previous  stillness. 
The  second  time  tlie  voice  is  heard  he  will,  with  more 
or  less  certainty,  recognize  it.  If  we  could  imagine 
him  gifted  with  the  power  of  speech  he  would  say, 
"This  is  like  what  I  felt  before."  Each  time  the 
voice  is  heard  anew,  the  consciousness  of  likeness 
and  unlikeness  will  be  repeated,  and  the  impres- 
sion produced  by  the  voice  upon  the  mind  will  be 
deepened,  until  at  last  il;  will  be  permanent.  The 
child  will  know  it.  He  will  be  able  to  recall  it  even 
when  the  voice  is  not  heard. 

Association  of  Ideas. —  Mere  repetition  may  suffice 
to  fix  an  idea  in  the  mind,  but  the  association  of  sen- 


HOW  THE    CHILD  GETS  HIS  FIRST  IDEAS.     39 

sations  with  pleasures  and  pains,  the  association  of 
impressions  made  on  the  same  sense,  the  association 
of  impressions  made  on  different  senses,  and  many 
other  associations  contribute  still  more  powerfully 
to  produce  this  result.  The  repetition,  as  it  were, 
engraves  the  idea  more  and  more  deeply  in  the  mind  ; 
the  associations  keep  constantly  directing  our  atten- 
tion to  the  original  record,  and  bringing  it  into 
consciousness.  In  this  way  each  idea  serves  to 
render  more  vivid  and  more  easily  remembered  each 
associated  idea.  Just  as  the  repetition  of  ideas  leads 
to  the  permanent  retention  of  ideas,  so  the  associa- 
tion of  ideas  serves  to  revive  and  brighten  them  by 
bringing  them  into  conscious  remembrance.  It  mul- 
tiplies the  occasions  on  which  old  ideas  are  brought 
under  review.  What  is  called  remembering  is  merely 
the  directing  our  consciousness  to  some  present  record 
in  the  brain  of  an  old  impression.  We  do  not  recall 
the  actual  original  impression,  but  bring  under  review 
what  remains  of  it,  the  link  by  which  this  is  done 
being  some  impression  or  train  of  impressions  so  asso- 
ciated with  the  old  impression  as  to  be  capable  of  re- 
viving it. 

The  Brain  the  Instrument  of  the  Mind. —  How 

ideas  are  lodged  in  the  mind  we  do  not  know.  All 
we  can  say  is  that  the  brain  is  the  instrument  of  the 
mind;  that  no  sensation  can  be  conveyed  to  it  with- 


40  CULTIVATION   OF   THE   SENSES. 

out  in  some  way  or  other  physically  affecting  it ;  that 
similar  sensations  are  likely  to  affect  it  in  the  same 
way  and  in  the  same  part ;  that  different  sensations 
are  likely  to  affect  it  in  different  ways  and  in  different 
parts;  and  that  a  series  of  sensations  are  likely  to 
produce  in  it  a  corresponding  series  of  effects  linked 
together  as  their  causes  were.  Of  this  we  are  abso- 
lutely sure,  that  the  brain,  like  every  other  material 
object,  is  a  permanent  record  of  every  force  that  acts 
upon  it.  Nature  records  in  the  altered  constitution 
of  things  everything  that  happens  to  them.  Every 
operation  of  the  mind,  like  every  action  of  the  body, 
is  accompanied  by  physical  changes,  and  these  are 
the  permanent  register  of  both.  There  is  really  no 
greater  difificulty  in  understanding  how  the  mind 
is  conscious  of  the  permanent  results  of  an  old  im- 
pression on  the  brain,  than  of  the  immediate  results 
of  a  present  impression. 

It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  the  brain  is  the 
mind ;  what  is  said  is  that  every  mental  operation  is 
performed  through  the  brain,  and  is  accompanied  by 
some  permanent  modification  of  the  brain.  Again, 
we  must  not  imagine  that  the  impressions  left  upon 
the  nervous  matter  of  the  brain  bear  any  resemblance 
to  the  objects  which,  acting  upon  the  senses,  originally 
produced  them.  An  effect  does  not  necessarily  re- 
semble its  cause.  The  image  formed  upon  the  retina 
of  the  eye  is  an  exact  representation  of  the  object 


HOW   THE    CHILD  GETS   HIS   FIRST  IDEAS.    4 1 

producing  it,  except  that  the  image  is  inverted,  but 
the  sensation  conveyed  to  the  mind  is  not  a  visible 
impression  resembling  the  image  upon  the  retina. 
The  slightest  consideration  of  this  fact  would  remove 
the  difificulty  which  some  people  find  in  understanding 
how  it  is  we  see  bodies  erect  when  their  images  on 
the  retina  are  inverted.  The  real  difficulty  lies  in 
understanding  how  the  physical  impression  is  con- 
verted into  the  mental,  not  in  the  correction  of  the 
retinal  inversion.  We  have  no  knowledge  whatever 
of  the  nature  of  the  changes  produced  in  the  brain 
by  sense-impressions ;  though  we  are  absolutely  cer- 
tain that  there  must  be  changes  produced  in  it  of 
some  kind  or  other. 

Conditions  under  which  Sensations  give  rise  to 
Ideas. —  It  will  be  gathered  from  what  has  been  stated 
that  the  conditions  under  which  sense-impressions  are 
converted  into  knowledge,  are 

1.  The  perception  of  tmlikencss  between  different 
sensations. 

2.  The  perception  of  likeness  between  different  sen- 
sations. 

3.  The  repetition  of  sensations. 

Simple  as  this  analysis  may  be,  it  applies  to  all  our 
ideas  that  are  derived  through  our  senses,      indeed, 
the  perception  of  likeness  and  unlikeness  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  a//  OUT  mental  acquisitions. 
4* 


42  CULTIVATION   OF   THE   SENSES. 

"Whatever  the  object  of  thought,  to  know  in  what 
respect  it  differs  from  all  other  things,  and  in  what 
respect  it  resembles  them,  is  to  know  all  about  it  — 
is  to  exhaust  the  action  of  the  intellect  upon  it.  The 
way  the  child  gets  its  early  knowledge  is  the  way  all 
real  knowledge  is  obtained.  When  it  discovers  the 
likeness  between  sugar,  cake,  and  certain  fruits,  that 
is,  when  it  integrates  them  in  thought  as  sweet,  it  is 
making  just  such  an  induction  as  Newton  made  in 
discovering  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  was  but  to 
discover  the  likeness  among  celestial  and  terrestrial 
motions.  And  as  with  physical  objects,  so  also  with 
human  actions.  The  child  may  run  round  the  house, 
and  play  with  its  toys;  it  must  not  break  things,  or 
play  with  the  fire.  Here,  again,  are  relations  of  like- 
ness and.  unlikeness  forming  a  basis  of  moral  classifi- 
cation. The  judge  on  the  bench  is  constantly  doing 
the  same  thing;  that  is,  tracing  out  the  likeness  of 
given  actions  and  classing  them  as  right  and  wrong." 

The  young  teacher  will  do  well  to  constantly  bear 
in  mind  this  fundamental  law  of  the  human  mind. 
No  matter  what  the  subject  of  his  lesson  may  be,  he 
will  find  that  it  mainly  turns  upon  the  perception  of 
points  of  difference  and  agreement ;  and  that  his  suc- 
cess as  a  teacher  will  largely  depend  upon  his  skill  and 
persistence  in  setting  forth  these  points.  Very  fre- 
quently he  will  have  to  show  that  under  a  superficial 
identity  there  are  points  of  difference,  and  that  under 


HO IV  THE   CHILD  GETS  HIS  FIRST  IDEAS.     43 

what  might  seem,  at  first,  the  widest  possible  diver- 
gences, there  is  an  essential  agreement.  He  will  also 
have  to  take  cognizance  of  the  very  different  degrees 
of  ability  to  recognize  points  of  agreement  and  dif- 
ference which  children  possess.  Some  children  are 
quick  to  detect  resemblances;  others  to  detect  differ- 
ences. As  a  rule,  they  are  more  alive  to  differences  than 
to  resemblances.  In  teaching  the  alphabet,  the  letters 
that  give  most  trouble  are  those  which  nearly  resemble 
each  other,  as,  b  and  d,  c  and  e,  p  and  q,  n  and  //. 

There  is  scarcely  a  subject  of  school  instruction 
which  does  not  allow  the  teacher  to  utilize  associations 
of  resemblance  and  difference.  Thus,  in  geography, 
the  teacher  might  compare  the  eastern  and  western 
hemispheres,  the  torrid  and  frigid  zones,  the  land  and 
the  ocean,  the  eastern  and  western  shores  of  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  London  and 
Paris,  Ceylon  and  Madagascar,  the  exports  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Louisiana ;  in  history  he  might  com- 
pare the  Roman  Invasion  and  the  Saxon  Invasion, 
life  in  the  United  States  in  the  seventeenth  and  nine- 
teenth centuries,  Washington  and  Jefferson,  Clay  and 
Webster ;  in  physical  science  he  might  compare  mag- 
netic and  electric  polarity,  acids  and  alkalies,  reflection 
and  refraction,  light  and  heat,  fog  and  dew,  chlorine 
and  sulphur,  etc. 

The  sharper  the  contrast,  or  the  more  strongly 
marked  the  unity  under  seeming  diversity,  the  deeper 
the  impression  made  on  the  mind. 


^>.^^^4^^"  " 


C  H  APTE  R     IV, 


HOW   THE   CHILD   PERCEIVES. 

SENSATION  has  been  defined  as  the  mental  im- 
pression whicli  is  produced  by  the  action  of  ex- 
ternal objects  on  some  part  of  the  body.  At  first  the 
mind  is  not  conscious  of  the  existence  of  tlie  objects 
by  which  these  sensations  are  produced;  it  feels  the 
effect,  but  does  not  perceive  the  cause.  The  mind 
of  a  new-born  child  is  entirely  ignorant,  not  only  of 
the  world  around  it,  but  that  there  is  a  world  external 
to  it.  It  is  completely  isolated.  It  has  sensations, 
but  the  sensations  are  not  connected  with  the  external 
objects  which  produce  them.  "To  it  the  inward 
world  is  everything;  the  outward  world  1s  nothing." 
The  recognition  of  the  quality  in  an  object  which 
produces  a  sensation  is  what  is  termed  perception. 
By  degrees  the  infant  learns  to  refer  its  sensations 
to  the  objects  ])roducing  them,  and  thus  acquires  a 
knowledge  of  a  world  external  to  himself.  This  per- 
ception of  outwardness  grows  as  the  mind  becomes 

44 


BO  11^'   THE    CHILD   PERCEIVES.  45 

capable  of  associating  certain  sensations  with  the 
presence  of  certain  objects,  and  the  cessation  of  those 
sensations  with  the  absence  of  the  objects.  When  the 
infant  first  hears  the  clock  tick  he  does  not  know 
whence  the  tick  proceeds.  He  is  only  conscious  of 
a  sound.  By  degrees  he  finds  from  which  side  the 
sound  proceeds ;  then  from  what  object ;  then  under 
what  conditions  of  the  object,  and  so  on. 

Perception  subsequent  to  Sensation. —  It  is  impor- 
tant to  observe  that  the  mind  is  immediately  conscious 
of  sensations  only,  and  that  the  perception  of  the 
external  objects  which  produce  them  is  a  subsequent 
act.  The  direction  of  a  ray  of  light  leads  the  mind 
to  perceive  the  object  whence  it  proceeds;  the  side 
on  which  a  sound  is  best  heard  leads  it  to  perceive 
the  source  whence  it  proceeds ;  the  power  we  possess 
of  referring  sensations  of  touch  to  the  particular  part 
of  the  body  affected,  directs  the  mind  to  the  object 
in  contact  with  it :  the  pleasures  and  pains  connected 
with  taste  and  smell  are  still  more  directly  as.sociated 
with  the  objects  producing  them. 

All  Perceptions  based  on  Experience. —  Most  of 
our  perceptions  are  acquired  so  early,  and  are  at  last 
repeated  so  rapidly,  as  to  seem  intuitive  ;  but  various 
experiments  appear  to  prove  conclusively  that  they 
are  all   inferences   from  experience.     Dr.   Carpenter 


46  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

tells  of  a  child  who,  at  the  age  of  three  years,  had 
been  cured  by  an  operation  for  congenital  cataract, 
that,  "  though  he  clearly  recognized  the  direction 
of  a  candle  or  other  bright  object,  he  was  unable  as 
an  infant  to  apprehend  its  distance;  so  that  when 
told  to  lay  hold  of  a  watch,  he  grasped  at  it  just  like 
a  young  child  lying  in  its  cradle.  It  was  very  grad- 
ually that  he  came  to  use  his  sight  for  the  guidance 
of  his  movements;  and  when  going  about  the  house 
at  which  he  was  staying,  with  which  he  had  famil- 
iarized himself  before  the  operation,  he  generally 
shut  his  eyes,  as  if  puzzled  rather  than  aided  by  them. 
When  he  returned  home  to  his  father's  house  and 
farmyard,  his  parents  remarked  that  he  was  for  some 
time  obviously  puzzled  by  his  sight,  shutting  his  eyes 
as  he  went  about  in  his  old  way ;  though  whenever 
he  went  to  a  new  place,  he  was  obviously  aided  by  it. 
But  it  was  several  months  before  he  came  to  trust 
to  it  for  his  guidance,  as  other  children  of  his  age 
would  do." 

The  various  steps  which  are  taken  in  arriving  at  a 
knowledge  of  an  external  object  would  appear  to  be 

1.  The  consciousness  of  a  sensation. 

2.  The  reference  of  the  sensation  to  some  external 
cause. 

3.  The  formation  of  an  idea  of  the  object,  or 
quality  in  the  object,  by  which  the  sensation  is 
believed  to  be  produced. 


I/OfV  THE    CHILD   PERCEIVES.  47 

Simple  and  Complex  Ideas. —  Our  ideas  of  exter- 
nal objects  are  simple  or  compound  according  as  one 
or  more  sensations  is  referred  to  them.  Thus,  our 
ideas  of  colors,  tastes,  and  smells  are  for  the  most 
part  simple.  Our  ideas  of  bodies  perceived  to  affect 
our  senses  in  a  variety  of  ways,  are  compound.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  ideas  which  different  people  have  of 
the  same  object  are  not  necessarily  co-extensive;  one 
person  may  perceive  in  an  object  only  one  quality ; 
another  two;  another  three,  and  so  on.  A  child's 
idea  of  an  orange  is  compounded  of  the  simple 
ideas  of  its  color,  form,  size,  roughness,  odor,  taste, 
parts,  etc.  A  botanist's,  chemist's  or  artist's  idea 
of  it  would  be  much  more  extensive. 

Ideas  derived  from  Reflection. —  In  addition  to 
our  ideas  of  external  objects  we  have  ideas  of  our 
own  mental  operations  and  states.  These  are  derived 
from  directing  our  consciousness  to  the  mind's  own 
condition.  I  not  only  perceive  a  rose,  but  I  am  con- 
scious that  I  perceive  it.  I  not  only  feel  pain,  but 
I  am  conscious  that  I  feel  it.  We,  as  it  were,  per- 
ceive ourselves  thinking,  reasoning,  feeling,  loving, 
hating,  envying,  and  so  on.  So  that  the  inmost  re- 
cesses of  our  nature  have  a  character  of  outwardness 
stamped  upon  them  when  considered  with  reference 
to  the  mysterious  "  I  "  which  they  unfold. 


48  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

Attention  Indispensable  to  Perception.  —  Atten- 
tion is  as  necessary  to  perception  as  to  sensation. 
Indeed,  it  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  all  con- 
scious mental  operations.  We  often  speak  of  per- 
sons possessing  "a  good  eye,"  or  "a  good  ear," 
as  having  "an  eye  for  nature,"  or  "an  eye  for 
color,"  and  so  on  ;  as  though  the  faculties  so  de- 
scribed were  purely  original  gifts  of  nature.  To  a 
large  extent  they  undoubtedly  are  original ;  but  to  a 
still  larger  extent  they  are  the  result  of  paying  care- 
ful and  sustained  attention  to  a  particular  class  of 
objects.  One  person  gives  a  cursory  glance  at  an 
object  and  carries  away  a  very  meagre  and  imperfect 
impression  of  it.  Another  looks  at  it  carefully  and 
frequently,  and  exhausts  the  sensations  which  it  is 
capable  of  affording.  The  mechanical  apparatus 
of  the  eye  may  have  been  originally  as  good  in  the 
former  case  as  the  latter,  and  may  be  still  as  good 
for  the  observation  of  another  class  of  objects ;  the 
main  difference  is  not  in  the  eye,  but  in  the  mind 
behind  it.  The  unobservant  man  looks,  but  does  not 
see ;  the  observant  man  looks  till  he  does  see. 

Effect  of  Expectation  on  Perception.  —  There  is 
also  a  reactionary  influence  exerted  by  the  mind  on 
the  senses  which  should  be  noted.  When  once  the 
mind  has  experienced  a  sensation  and  perceived  its 
cause,  an  expectation  is  created   that  the  sensation 


BO  IV    THE    CHILD   PERCEIVES.  49 

will  be  reproduced  when  the  object  is  again  presented 
to  the  sense  that  has  been  affected  by  it.  We  look 
for  the  old  sensation  and  the  cause  to  which  we  have 
assigned  it.  Thus  the  eye  to  a  large  extent  sees,  the 
ear  hears,  the  nose  smells,  the  tongue  tastes,  and  the 
skin  feels,  what  they  bring  with  them  the  power  to 
see,  and  hear,  and  smell,  and  taste,  and  feel.  We 
bring  our  past  experiences  to  bear  on  our  present 
sensations. 

Of  the  dull,  unobservant  individual,  the  poet  says: 

"A  primrose  by  a  river's  brim 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

A  naturalist  would  see  in  the  primrose  an  illustration 
of  hundreds  of  truths  taught  him  by  his  previous 
studies.  A  poet  would  see  in  it  forms  of  beauty  as- 
sociated with  an  infinite  variety  of  pleasurable  ideas. 

Observing  Faculties  strengthened  with  Exercise. — 

The  observing  faculties,  like  all  our  other  faculties, 
are  sharpened  with  exercise,  the  physical  organs  in- 
volved in  their  exercise  having  a  power  of  gi owing 
to  the  special  work  upon  which  they  are  engaged. 
This  power  is  strongest  in  childhood.  The  rational 
faculty  not  having  been  yet  developed  highly,  almost 
the  whole  attention  is  concentrated  upon  the  sensa- 
tions and  the  objects  producing  them.  The  absence 
5  D 


50  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

of  reflection  gives  us  opportunities  to  observe.  Hence, 
in  childhood,  the  mind  should  be  mainly  exercised 
in  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the  external  world  through 
the  employment  of  its  senses,  and  in  learning  to  de- 
scribe its  sense-impressions,  this  knowledge  being  not 
only  that  best  suited  to  the  stage  of  development 
which  it  has  reached,  but  the  foundation  of  all  other 
knowledge.  Even  the  "invisible  chings"  of  God  are 
understood  by  "  the  things  that  are  made." 


Chapter  V. 

HOW  THE   CHILD  FORMS  CONCEPTIONS. 

THUS  far  we  have  endeavored  to  account  for  the 
acquisition  of  our  ideas  of  particular  sensations, 
and  of  objects  as  causing  those  sensations.  We  have 
now  to  inquire  how  we  come  by  those  conceptions 
which  have  no  external  objects  precisely  correspond- 
ing to  them,  and  which  are  designated  by  general 
names,  or,  as  they  are  called  in  grammar,  by  common 
nouns.*  A  child  knows,  we  will  suppose,  the  oak- 
tree  in  front  of  the  house  and  the  apple-tree  at  the 


*  This  may  require  a  moment's  explanation.  There  is  a  city 
corresponding  to  the  proper  noun  Philadelphia  ;  there  is  nothing 
precisely  corresponding  to  the  term  tree.  There  are  individual 
trees,  but  there  is  no  tree  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
what  I  mean  by  the  word  tree.  This  tree  is  an  oak-tree ;  that 
is  a  pine-tree,  and  so  on;  but  what  I  am  thinking  of  is  not  one 
or  the  other,  but  simply  of  the  ideas  covered  by  the  common 
noun  tree. 

51 


52  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

back  of  the  house  ;  but,  as  yet,  he  knows  them  only 
as  individual  trees.  He  does  not  perceive  under  their 
wide  diversity  of  appearance  certain  points  in  com- 
mon. By  and  by  he  will  see  that  they  both  have 
trunks,  branches,  leaves,  bark,  roots,  etc.,  and  he  will 
form  from  them  a  conception  of  a  tree  as  distinguished 
from  an  oak-tree,  or  an  apple-tree,  or  any  other  tree 
with  which  he  may  become  acquainted. 

How  we  form  Conceptions. —  It  is  clear  that  this 
conception  is  arrived  at  by  a  process  of  generaliza- 
tion. The  points  of  difference  which  separate  trees 
from  other  objects,  and  the  points  of  agreement  which 
unite  all  trees,  form  together  the  conception  of  a  tree. 
A  conception  is  thus  a  purely  mental  combination  of 
ideas  derived  from  a  number  of  objects  having  some- 
thing in  common,  but  having  no  external  object 
precisely  corresponding  to  it.  When  I  look  at  an 
oak-tree  I  perceive  its  form,  size,  color,  foliage, 
roots,  etc.,  and  I  carry  away  with  me  an  image  more 
or  less  exact  of  that  particular  oak-tree ;  but  I  have 
a  conception  of  an  oak-tree  which  is  quite  distinct 
from  my  notion  of  any  oak-tree  in  particular,  though  it 
agrees  in  some  respects  with  my  notions  of  each  in- 
dividual oak-tree  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  To 
perceive  a  particular  tree,  the  tree  must  be  before  me  ; 
to  form  a  conception  of  a  tree,  I  need  not  have  a  tree 
before  me.     It  is  enough  for  me  to  combine  out  of 


HO  IV  THE    CHILD  FORMS   CONCEPTIONS.      53 

my  past  perceptions  those  characters  which  I  have 
found  all  trees  to  possess  in  common. 

Conceptions  vary  with  our  Generalizations. —  Our 

conceptions  of  things  vary  with  the  extent  of  our 
perception  of  points  of  agreement  and  difference  be- 
tween them.  Thus,  if  I  note  only  the  fact  that  a 
number  of  objects  have  trunks,  branches,  leaves  and 
roots,  I  may  combine  these  characters  into  a  concep- 
tion of  a  tree ;  if  I  further  note  the  particular  char- 
acters of  their  trunks,  branches,  leaves,  etc.,  I  may 
form  conceptions  of  groups  or  classes  of  trees,  one 
possessing  one  set  of  characters  in  common,  and 
another  possessing  another  set,  as  of  oak-trees,  pine- 
trees,  etc.  ;  if  I  note  the  characters  of  oak-trees  more 
closely,  I  may  form  conceptions  of  groups  or  classes 
of  oak-trees,  one  possessing  one  set  of  characters  in 
common,  and  another  another,  as  of  the  common 
oak,  the  rock  oak,  the  black  oak,  etc. 

What  is  wanted  in  a  Conception. —  Conceptions 
should  be  clear  and  distinct,  so  that  we  may  know 
precisely  what  notions  are  combined  to  form  them, 
and  thereby  be  able  to  determine  whether  an  indi- 
vidual belongs  to  a  class  or  not.  The  vividness  of 
our  conceptions  largely  depends  upon  the  vividness 
of  our  perceptions;  the  distinctness  of  our  concep- 


54  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

tions  depends  upon  the  extent  to  which  our  discrimi- 
nations are  carried. 

The  value  of  conceptions  is  most  clearly  perceived 
in  connection  with  language  and  classification.  If 
things  were  not  classified,  we  should  be  obliged  to 
name  them  individually;  whereas,  by  grouping  them, 
a  few  names  become  applicable  to  any  number  of 
individuals  included  in  the  groups.  It  is  needless  to 
insist  upon  the  value  of  classification  as  a  means  of 
discovery ;  the  conception  of  a  class,  formed  from 
the  perception  of  a  i^^N  common  characters,  will 
often  lead  to  the  discovery  of  other  characters  which 
had  not  been  perceived.  Again,  it  is  mainly  by  con- 
ception that  we  are  enabled  to  acquire  any  knowledge 
of  facts  beyond  the  range  of  our  personal  experience. 
I  have  never  seen  Niagara ;  but  when  I  am  told  that 
it  is  a  waterfall,  I  can  form  some  idea  of  it,  because 
I  have  seen  other  waterfalls,  and  have  a  conception 
of  what  constitutes  a  waterfall. 

Difference  between  Conception  and  Imagination. 

—  Strictly  speaking,  we  do  not  form  conceptions  of 
things,  but  only  of  classes.  But  in  common  dis- 
course people  often  speak  of  having  conceptions  of 
individual  things.  It  would  be  more  correct  to  speak 
of  imagining  a  thing  which  has  not  been  subjected 
to  our  senses.  To  imagine  is  to  combine  the  mental 
images  that  have  been  supplied  by  perception  into 


HOW  THE    CHILD   FORMS   CONCEPTIONS.      55 

new  wholes.  Thus  I  have  an  image  of  a  brick,  and 
another  image  of  a  house,  and  by  combining  the  two 
I  may  imagine  a  brick  house.  In  teaching  history 
and  geography  we  have  constantly  to  appeal  to  the 
imagination  to  realize  events  and  scenes  beyond  the 
range  of  our  own  sensible  experiences.  In  such  cases 
it  is  obvious  that  the  image  formed  cannot  be  clearer 
than  the  ideas  out  of  which  it  is  compounded,  and 
that  clear  perception  is,  therefore,  indispensable  to  a 
vivid  imagination. 

Close  Connection  between  distinct  Conceptions  and 
Language. —  The  teacher  will  do  well,  in  teaching 
the  application  of  any  common  name,  to  indicate 
precisely  the  points  of  agreement  which  integrate  the 
class  of  objects  included  under  the  name,  and  the 
points  of  difference  which  separate  the  class  from 
other  classes.  He  should  also  be  particularly  careful 
to  be  consistent  and  accurate  in  his  own  employment 
of  language,  remembering  that  it  is  mainly  by  induc- 
tion from  the  language  of  their  seniors,  that  children 
learn  the  application  of  words.  Distinctness  of  con- 
ception is  largely  aided  by  precision  of  language, 
just  as  precision  of  language  is  largely  aided  by  dis- 
tinct conception.  Our  own  language  will  be  precise 
in  proportion  as  our  conceptions  are  distinct ;  the 
conceptions  of  our  pupils  will  be  distinct  in  propor- 
tion to  the  accuracy  and  consistency  of  the  language 


56  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

which  they  are  accustomed  to  hear.  Children  should 
often  be  interrogated  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  words  they  hear  and  employ  cover  dis- 
tinct conceptions  in  their  minds.* 

*  The  following  slory  shows  that  it  is  not  children  only  who 
need  to  verify  their  conceptions:  —  A  clergyman,  in  conversa- 
tion with  an  old  lady,  one  of  his  parishioners,  had  occasion  to 
suspect,  from  some  remarks  she  dropped,  that  she  had  very  hazy 
views  of  the  Pharisees.  This  led  him  to  say,  "  May  I  venture 
to  ask  whether  you  precisely  know  who  the  Pharisees  were?" 
"  Oh,  yes,"  she  said ;  "  they  were  a  small  race  of  creatures,  not 
absolutely  wicked,  but  mischievous,"  By  some  odd  jumble  she 
had  mixed  them  up  with  the  fairies. 


Chapter  VI. 

HOW    SHALL   WE  CULTIVATE  THE   CHILD'S 
SENSES? 

THE  mind,  as  we  have  seen,  derives  its  first  notions 
of  the  external  world  from  the  exercise  of  its 
senses.  "From  the  hour  of  birth,  through  all  the 
waking  moments,  there  pour  in  through  the  eye,  ever- 
varying  impressions  of  light  and  color,  from  the  dim- 
ness of  twilight  to  the  utmost  solar  refulgence,  which 
are  reproduced  as  a  highly  diversified  luminous  con- 
sciousness. Impressions  of  sound,  of  all  qualities 
and  intensities,  loud  and  faint,  shrill  and  dull,  harsh 
and  musical,  in  endless  succession,  enter  the  ear,  and 
give  rise  to  a  varied  auditory  consciousness.  Ever- 
changing  contrasts  of  touch  acquaint  the  mind  with 
hard  things  and  soft,  light  and  heavy,  rough  and 
smooth,  round  and  angular,  brittle  and  flexible,  and 
are  wrought  into  a  knowledge  of  things  within  reach. 
And  so,  also,  with  the  senses  of  taste  and  smell. 
This  multitude  of  contrasted  impressions,  represent- 

57 


58  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

ing  the  endless  diversity  of  the  surrounding  world, 
has  been  organized  into  a  connected  and  coherent 
body  of  knowledge. 

"After  two  or  three  years,  the  face  that  was  at  first 
blank  becomes  bright  with  the  light  of  numberless 
recognitions.  The  child  knows  all  the  common  ob- 
jects of  the  house,  the  garden,  and  the  street,  and  it 
not  only  knows  them  apart,  but  it  has  extended  its 
discrimination  of  likeness  and  difference  to  a  great 
many  of  their  characters.  It  has  found  out  about 
differences  of  t^^rm,  size,  color,  weight,  transparency, 
plasticity,  toughness,  brittleness,  fluidity,  warmth, 
taste,  and  various  other  properties  of  the  solid  and 
liquid  substances  of  which  it  has  had  experience.  It 
has  noted  peculiarities  among  animals  and  plants,  and 
the  distinctions,  traits,  and  habits  of  persons. 

"Besides  this,  it  has  learned  to  associate  names 
with  its  ideas  :  it  has  acquired  a  language.  The  num- 
ber of  words  it  uses  to  express  things,  and  actions, 
and  qualities,  degrees  and  relations  among  these  things 
and  actions,  shows  the  extent  to  which  its  discrimina- 
tions have  been  carried  ;  groups  of  ideas  are  integrated 
into  trains  of  thought,  and  words  into  corresponding 
trains  of  sentences,  to  communicate  them." 

Nature  to  be  our  Guide.— When  a  child  goes  to 
school,  the  first  duty  of  the  teacher  is  to  continue  the 
method  of  education  which   has   been   pursued   by 


HOW  TO  CULTIVATE  THE  CHILD'S  SENSES.    59 

nature :  to  increase  the  acuteness  of  the  senses  by 
suitable  exercises,  to  direct  them  to  appropriate  ob- 
jects, to  extend  the  discriminations  of  likeness  and 
unlikeness  in  which  its  present  knowledge  consists, 
and  to  supply  words  as  they  are  wanted,  to  designate 
the  notions  and  conceptions  which  the  mind  gradually 
accumulates. 

Now  Nature's  education  begins  with  life,  and  her 
school  is  the  school  of  experience.  She  teaches  noth- 
ing but  what  the  child  will  need  to  know,  and  all  her 
lessons  are  regulated  by  the  degree  of  development 
which  he  has  reached  and  the  practical  use  to  which 
her  lessons  are  to  be  applied.     She  is  in  no  hurry.* 

*  Darwin  says  of  one  of  his  children  that  he  was  not  able, 
even  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  days  old,  to  easily  recog- 
nize whence  a  sound  proceeded.  His  power  of  vision  was  devel- 
oped much  earlier.  His  eyes  were  fixed  on  a  candle  as  early  as 
the  ninth  day,  and  up  to  the  forty  fifth  day  nothing  else  seemed 
thus  to  fix  them.  On  the  forty-niiilh  day  his  attention  was  at- 
tracted by  a  bright  colored  tassel.  He  could  not  follow  well 
with  his  eye  a  swinging  object  at  seven  and  one-half  months 
old.  He  could  move  his  hands  to  his  mouth  before  he  was  forty 
days  old.  When  between  eighty  and  ninety  days  old  he  drew 
all  sorts  of  objects  into  his  mouth.  When  one  hundred  and 
thirty  two  days  old  he  often  failed  to  grasp  objects  brought 
within  his  reach,  Tiedemann,  who  made  similar  observauons, 
says  that  one  of  his  infants  on  the  day  after  his  Ivirth  moved  his 
eyes  in  all  directions,  not  at  random,  but  as  if  they  sought  ob- 
jects, and  directed  themselves  by  preference  to  things  in  move- 


6o  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

She  does  not  cram.  She  associates  pleasures  and 
pains  with  the  sensations  to  which  she  wishes  to  di- 
rect attention.  She  repeats  her  lessons  day  after  day 
with  unwearying  patience  and  with  infinite  variety  of 
illustration  and  exercise.  She  leaves  time  for  her 
lessons  to  be  thoroughly  assimilated  and  put  in  prac- 
tice. She  links  on  new  knowledge  to  old.  She 
converts  every  sense  into  an  avenue  for  conveying 
new  ideas,  and  every  instinct  into  an  instrument  for 
stimulating  the  infant  to  exercise  his  senses.  She 
never  wearies  her  pupil.  As  soon  as  he  is  tired  of 
examining  one  thing  she  directs  him  to  another,  and 
when  he  is  tired  of  examining  everything,  she  sends 
him  to  sleep.     She  turns  everything  to  account  for 

ment.  When  he  was  thirteen  clays  old  he  showed  some  traces 
of  acquired  ideas,  and  evidently  took  notice  of  the  gestures  of 
those  who  spoke  to  him.  Their  words  stopped  his  tears.  When 
eighteen  days  old  he  showed  signs  of  the  association  of  ideas. 
Thus,  if  he  cried,  and  was  placed  on  one  of  his  sides  in  the 
position  of  suckling,  or  if  he  felt  a  warm  hand  upon  his  face,  he 
would  become  silent,  and  seek  his  mother's  bosom.  At  thirty- 
eight  days  old  the  playing  of  a  piano  gave  him  evident  pleasure. 
The  order  and  rapidity  with  which  the  faculties  of  children  de- 
velop vary  very  considerably.  M.  Taine  says  of  one  of  his  infants 
that  when  less  than  three  months  old  she  would,  on  hearing  her 
grandmother's  voice,  turn  her  head  to  the  side  from  which  it 
came.  Mr.  Darwin's  child,  as  we  have  seen,  could  not  tell  well 
the  direction  from  which  a  sound  came  when  he  was  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  days  old. 


HOW  TO  CULTIVATE   THE  CHILD'S  SENSES.   6 1 

the  purpose  of  instructing  and  educating  him,  and 
teaches  him  invaluable  lessons  while  he  seems  to  be 
only  sucking  a  coral,  or  pulling  a  flower  to  pieces,  or 
rolling  a  ball,  or  smoothing  a  cat.  Examine  her  pupil 
at  the  age  of  three,  and  you  will  find  that  he  has  learnt 
the  leading  elementary  truths  of  Physics  without  at- 
tending the  lectures  of  any  learned  professor ;  that 
he  has  some  acquaintance  with  Botany,  and  consider- 
able knowledge  of  Natural  History ;  that  he  has  a 
deep  insight  into  human  character,  and  that,  without 
the  assistance  of  grammar  or  dictionary,  he  has  learnt 
to  speak  his  mother-tongue  with  tolerable  fluency  and 
accuracy ;  that  he  has  made  a  commencement  in  sev- 
eral mechanical  crafts,  such  as  those  of  the  mason 
and  carpenter ;  that  he  is  not  wholly  ignorant  of  the 
Fine  Arts,  and  that  he  has  elementary  notions  of  the 
truths  of  morality  and  religion. 

We  clearly  cannot  do  better,  then,  than  take 
Nature  for  our  guide  when  the  child  leaves  the  nurs- 
ery to  go  to  school.  She  has  mapped  out  for  us  the 
course  which  we  ought  to  pursue  in  his  formal  educa- 
tion. "New  helps  and  resources  may  be  needed, 
but  the  essential  means  should  be  the  same.  Mental 
growth  is  to  be  carried  by  cultivation  to  still  higher 
stages,  with  the  same  processes  hitherto  employed. 
Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  the  child's  entrance 
upon  school-life,  instead  of  being  the  wise  continua- 
tion of  processes  already  begun,  is  usually  an  abrupt 
6 


62  CULTIVATION   OF   THE   SENSES. 

translation  to  a  new,  artificial,  and  totally  different 
sphere  of  mental  experience.  Although  in  the  pre- 
vious periods  it  has  learned  more  than  it  ever  will 
again  in  the  same  time,  and  learned  it  according  to 
the  fundamental  laws  of  growing  intelligence,  yet 
the  current  notion  is  that  education  begins  with  the 
child's  entrance  upon  school-life.  That  which  does 
begin  it  this  time  is  not  education,  but  simply  the 
acquirement  of  new  helps  to  it." 

The  Aim  which  the  Teacher  should  set  hefore  him 
in  Cultivating  the  Senses. —  In  cultivating  the  senses, 
our  aim  should  be,  not  so  much  to  bring  them  to 
their  highest  possible  acuteness,  as  to  fit  them  for 
the  duties  of  life,  as  efficient  and  ready  instruments 
of  the  mind.  It  is  a  simple  extravagance  to  aim  at 
attaining  "an  eye  as  keen  and  piercing  as  that  of  the 
eagle ;  an  ear  as  sensitive  to  the  faintest  sound  as 
that  of  the  hare  ;  a  nostril  as  far-scenting  as  that  of 
the  wild  deer ;  a  tongue  as  delicate  as  that  of  the 
butterfly;  and  a  touch  as  acute  as  that  of  the  spider." 
One  is  tempted,  on  hearing  such  language,  to  quote 
the  words  of  Pope  : 

"Why  has  not  man  a  microscopic  eye? 
For  this  plain  reason  —  man  is  not  a  fly. 
Say  what  the  use  were  finer  optics  given, 
To  inspect  a  mile,  not  comprehend  the  heaven  ? 


HOW  TO  CULTIVATE   THE  CHILD'S  SEA'SES.   6t, 

Or  touch,  if  trembiin<jly  alive  all  o'er, 

To  smart  and  agonize  at  every  pore  ? 

Or  quick  effluvia  darling  through  the  brain, 

Die  of  a  rose  in  aromatic  pain  ? 

If  nature  thundered  in  his  opening  ears, 

And  stunned  him  with  the  music  of  the  spheres, 

How  would  he  wish  that  Heaven  had  left  him  still 

The  whispering  zephyr  and  the  purling  rill." 

Nor  need  we  have  recourse  to  exercises  for  the  ex- 
clusive purpose  of  cultivating  the  senses.  The  same 
lessons  which  will  supply  children  with  such  knowl- 
edge as  it  is  most  desirable  they  should  acquire,  will 
afford  adequate  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  the 
senses.  Herbert  Spencer  says  on  this  point :  "From 
the  Bushman,  whose  eye,  habitually  employed  in 
identifying  distant  objects  that  are  to  be  pursued  or 
fled  from,  has  acquired  a  telescopic  range,  to  the 
accountant  whose  daily  practice  enables  him  to  add 
up  several  columns  of  figures  simultaneously,  we  find 
that  the  highest  power  of  a  faculty  results  from  the 
discharge  of  those  duties  which  the  conditions  of 
life  require  it  to  discharge.  And  we  may  be  sure,  a 
priori,  that  the  same  law  holds  throughout  education. 
The  education  of  most  value  for  guidance  must  be  at 
the  same  time  the  most  valuable  for  discipline." 

Children  must  Use  their  Senses. — The  great  thing 
for  the  teacher  to  aim  at  is  to  get  children  to  use 


64  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

their  senses  in  the  acquisition  of  all  knowledge  that 
is  based  on  observation.  This  they  may  do  either 
by  collecting  facts  for  inductions  of  their  own,  or  by 
verifying  the  observations  of  others.  Words  are  in- 
valuable helps  to  the  mind  in  classifying  things,  in 
recollecting  them,  in  reasoning  from  them,  and  in 
communicating  knowledge  relating  to  them,  but  they 
can  never  supersede  the  necessity  for  original  obser- 
vation. They  have  no  meaning  until  the  ideas  are 
lodged  in  the  mind  which  they  designate,  and,  how- 
ever familiar  they  may  be  to  the  ears  of  the  children 
who  hear  them,  they  are,  without  antecedent  sense- 
impressions,  a  meaningless  and  unknown  language. 
Children  must  see,  and  hear,  and  taste,  and  smell, 
and  touch  for  themselves,  before  they  can  benefit  by 
the  observation  and  testimony  of  others.  Without 
accurate  sense-impressions  our  perceptions  must  be 
erroneous;  and  with  erroneous  perceptions,  our  con- 
ceptions, our  judgments,  our  reasoning,  and  all  our 
other  mental  operations  must  be  erroneous.  "The 
education  of  the  senses  neglected,  all  after-education 
partakes  of  a  drowsiness,  a  haziness,  an  insufficiency, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  cure."  The  concrete  being 
unknown,  or  imperfectly  known,  the  abstract  is  marked 
by  the  same  characteristics. 

Miss  Edgeworth  says  on  this  point:  "Rousseau 
has  judiciously  advised  that  the  senses  of  children 
should  be  cultivated  with  the  utmost  care.     In  pro- 


oiNii:  nur 

HOW  TO  CULTIVATE  THE  CHILD'S  SENSES.   65 

portion  to  the  distinctness  of  their  perceptions  will 
be  the  accuracy  of  their  memory,  and  probably  also 
the  precision  of  their  judgment.  A  child  who  sees 
imperfectly  cannot  reason  justly  about  the  objects  of 
sight  because  he  has  not  sufficient  data.  A  child 
who  does  not  hear  distinctly  cannot  judge  well  of 
sound  ;  and  if  we  could  suppose  the  sense  of  touch 
to  be  twice  as  accurate  in  one  child  as  in  another, 
we  might  conclude  that  the  judgment  of  these  chil- 
dren must  differ  in  a  similar  proportion.  The  defects 
in  organization  are  not  within  the  power  of  the  pre- 
ceptor; but  we  may  observe  that  inattention  and 
want  of  exercise  are  frequently  the  causes  of  what 
are  mistaken  for  natural  defects ;  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, increased  attention  and  cultivation  sometimes 
produce  that  quickness  of  eye  and  ear,  and  that 
consequent  readiness  of  judgment,  which  we  are  apt 
to  attribute  to  natural  superiority  of  organization  or 
capacity." 

But  the  formation  of  habits  of  observation  is,  per- 
haps, of  more  value  even  than  the  knowledge  gained 
in  childhood  by  the  exercise  of  the  senses.  There  is 
no  occupation  in  life  in  which  powers  of  accurate 
()l>^er\';itit)i)  are  not  needed,  to  sa\'  iioiliiiig  uf  ihe 
uitinite  sources  of  pleasure  which  those  powers  open 
\\\)  to  us.  "If  we  consider  it,"  says  Spencer,  "we 
shall  find  that  exhaustive  observation  is  an  element 
of  all  great  success.  It  is  not  to  artists,  naturalists, 
6*  E 


66  CULTIVATION  OF   THE  SENSES. 

and  men  of  science  on!)',  that  it  is  needful ;  it  is  not 
only  that  the  physician  depends  on  it  for  the  correct- 
ness of  his  diagnosis,  and  that  to  the  engineer  it  is 
so  important  that  some  years  are  prescribed  in  -the 
worlc-ihop  for  him ;  but  we  may  see  that  the  philoso- 
pher, also,  is  fundamentally  one  who  observes  the 
relationships  of  things  which  others  had  overlooked, 
and  that  the  poet,  too,  is  one  who  sees  the  fine  facts 
in  nature  which  all  recognize  when  pointed  out,  but 
did  not  before  remark.  Nothing  requires  more  to  be 
insisted  on  than  that  vivid  and  complete  impressions 
are  all-essential.  No  sound  fabric  of  wisdom  ca.n  be 
woven  out  of  rotten  raw  material." 


Chapter  VII. 

OBJECT   LESSONS. 

THE  intention  of  object  lessons  is  not  so  much  to 
communicate  information  as  to  put  children  in 
the  way  of  collecting  information  for  themselves;  to 
sharpen  and  direct  their  senses;  to  teach  them  to  see 
things,  instead  of  merely  looking  at  them,  and  to  de- 
compose the  confused  aggregate  of  impressions  which 
things  at  first 'make  upon  the  mind;  to  get  them  to 
classify  and  generalize  and  connect  simple  phenomena 
with  their  antecedents  and  consequents;  to  exercise 
the  reason  ;  and  to  do  this  in  Nature's  own  way,  by 
bringing  the  learner,  as  far  as  possible,  into  direct 
contact  with  things,  and  satisfying  his  own  instinctive 
needs. 

The  most  suitable  subjects  for  a  teacher  to  begin 
with  in  the  cultivation  of  the  perceptive  and  concep- 
tive  faculty  are 

I.  Those  that  afford  occupation  for  the  hands, 
thereby  gratifying  the  love  of  activity,  as  well  as  ex- 

67 


68  CULTIVATION   OF   THE   SENSES. 

ercise  for  the  senses,  such  as  the  Kindergarten  "gifts," 
colored  balls,  blocks  capable  of  combination  in  pleas- 
ing groups,  etc. 

2.  Common  things,  such  as  a  table,  a  chair,  a  bed, 
a  poker,  a  pin,  a  needle,  a  knife  and  fork,  a  thimble, 
a  feather. 

3.  Subjects  from  natural  history,  such  as  the  cat, 
the  dog,  the  cow,  the  horse,  the  mouse,  the  robin,  a 
bird's-nest,  a  daisy,  an  apple,  an  orange,  a  potato, 
wool,  the  lion,  camel,  etc. 

4.  Subjects  connected  with  food  and  dress,  such  as 
bread,  cheese,  butter,  tea,  coffee,  bacon,  rice,  sugar,  salt, 
pepper,  spice,  rice,  vinegar;  a  straw  bonnet,  cotton, 
linen,  cloth,  a  shoe,  a  button,  thread,  a  hook  and  eye. 

5.  Subjects  connected  with  the  human  body,  such 
as  the  head,  the  arms,  the  legs,  the  hands,  the  feet, 
the  eye,  the  ear,  the  teeth,  the  tongue,  the  nose,  the 
skin,  the  hair. 

6.  Subjects  connected  with  domestic  and  industrial 
economy,  such  as  baking,  washing,  brewing,  cooking, 
building,  a  butcher's  shop,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  a 
tailor's  shop,  a  grocer's  shop,  a  carpenter's  shop. 

7.  .Siibjffts  connerted  with  familiar  physical  phe- 
nomena, buch  us  the  >uii.  the  nuxjii.  the  wind.  r;iin, 
snow,  ice,  water,  day,  night,  the  seasons,  clouds. 

Classification  of  Object  Lessons. —  Object  lessons 
for  infant-schools  may  be  conveniently  grouped  into 


OBJECr  LESSONS.  69 

four  classes,  corresponding  to   the  ages  of  the  chil- 
dren. 

1.  Lessons  in  which  the  main  purpose  is  to  lead 
children  to  perceive  the  parts  and  the  more  obvious 
qualities  of  objects. 

2.  Lessons  calling  attention  to  the  less  obvious 
qualities  and  uses  of  objects. 

3.  Lessons  involving  an  easy  classification  of  things. 

4.  Lessons  directing  attention  to  the  adaptation 
of  means  to  ends,  and  thereby  exercising  the  reason. 

The  same  subject  may  be  treated  in  all  these  ways, 
the  teacher  remembering  that  the  senses  should  be 
chiefly  exercised  first,  the  conceptive  faculty  next, 
and  the  reasoning  faculty  last  of  all. 

Object  lessons  should  be  continued  until  children 
take  up  the  formal  study  of  the  subjects  under  which 
they  are  included,  physical  geography,  physiology, 
chemistry,  etc.  "They  should  not  be  limited  to  the 
contents  of  the  house,  but  should  include  those  of 
the  fields  and  the  woods,  the  granary  and  the  sea- 
shore. They  should  not  cease  with  early  childhood, 
but  should  be  kept  up  during  youth,  as  insensibly  to 
merge  into  the  investigations  of  the  naturalist  and 
the  man  of  science."  As  far  as  possible,  even  in  the 
primary  school,  lessons  relating  to  connected  and 
kindred  subjects  should  be  given  in  a  series,  so  that 
the  relations  between  things  may  be  perceived,  and 
in  order  that  new  knowledge  may  be  linked  on  to  the 


yo  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

old.  "Alike  in  its  order  and  its  methods,"  says 
Herbert  Spencer,  "education  must  conform  to  the 
natural  process  of  mental  evolution  ;  there  is  a  cer- 
tain sequence  in  which  the  faculties  spontaneously 
develop,  and  a  certain  kind  of  knowledge  that  each 
requires  during  its  development ;  and  it  is  for  us  to 
ascertain  this  sequence,  and  supply  this  knowledge." 

Apparatus  and  Illustrations. —  The  teacher  should 
in  ail  cases  take  care  to  provide  himself  beforehand 
with  the  apparatus  necessary  for  his  lesson,  the  appa- 
ratus and  the  experiments  made  with  it  being,  if 
properly  used,  in  themselves  the  lesson,  and  the 
teacher  merely  a  demonstrator,  whose  function  is  not 
so  much  to  communicate  knowledge  by  word  of 
mouth  as  to  direct  and  test  the  child's  powers  of  ob- 
servation and  reasoning.  Careful  attention  should  be 
paid  to  the  order  in  which  the  experiments  are  per- 
formed and  the  specimens  displayed. 

Specimens. —  If  possible,  the  teacher  should  have 
the  actual  object  on  which  the  lesson  is,  placed  be- 
fore the  children  ;  and  a  specimen  of  it  should  be 
given  to  each  child.  For  instance,  if  the  lesson  were 
on  a  daisy,  each  child  should  have  a  daisy,  and 
should  examine  it  for  himself  under  the  teacher's 
direction,  first  taking  off  one  part  and  then  another, 
and  laying  each  part  carefully  aside.     An  enthusiastic 


OBJECT  LEZSONS.  Jl 

teacher  will  always  be  on  the  lookout  for  specimens 
for  the  illustration  of  his  lessons,  and  will  take  advan- 
tage of  times  and  opportunities  to  secure  them.  I 
recently  heard  a  lesson  on  the  bee,  and  found  that 
the  teacher  had  had  the  forethought  to  secure  a  com- 
plete hive  of  dead  bees,  from  which  he  was  enabled 
to  furnish  every  child  with  a  handful  at  the  beginning 
of  the  lesson.     Every  school  should  be  provided  with 

1.  A  small  cabinet  of  objects  illustrating  the  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral  kingdoms,  and  the  more  im- 
portant arts  and  manufactures. 

2.  A  museum  of  curiosities  and  other  objects  of 
interest,  to  which  the  children  should  be  encouraged 
to  contribute. 

3.  Apparatus  for  melting,  evaporating,  straining, 
measuring,  weighing,  etc. 

Pictures. —  If  the  actual  object  cannot  be  had,  then 
a  picture  of  it  should  be  introduced ;  but  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  a  picture  is  only  an  imperfect 
symbol  of  the  object  which  it  represents.  It  is,  of 
course,  a  more  perfect  symbol  than  a  word,  because 
it  is  not  arbitrary  and  bears  some  resemblance  to  the 
real  thing;  but  it  is  addressed  to  only  a  single  sense, 
and  is  very  liable  to  mislead  even  that.  It  can  give 
no  idea,  except  by  way  of  suggestion  from  the  asso- 
ciation of  ideas,  of  resistance,  weight,  texture,  etc. 
Pictures  that  are  not  on  the  same  scale  as  the  objects 


72  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

represented  should  contain  some  familiar  object  to 
furnish  a  standard  for  relative  measurement.  A  pic- 
ture of  a  mouse  should  contain  a  cat.  A  picture  of  an 
elephant  should  contain  a  man.  This  rule  should  be 
invariably  observed  in  lessons  on  Natural  History. 

Models  are  still  better  than  pictures.  They  can  be 
taken  to  pieces,  set  in  motion,  and  shown  in  a  wide 
variety  of  situations.  They  appeal  at  once  to  the 
instincts  of  knowledge,  activity,  and  transformation. 

The  Black-board.  —  As  an  auxiliary  to  all  other 
modes  of  illustration  the  black-board  should  be  freely 
used.  Every  teacher  should  be  able  to  draw  rapidly 
and  effectively  before  his  class.  An  illustration  may 
often  be  drawn  on  the  black-board  when  no  other 
form  of  ilhistration  is  available.  Children  love  to 
see  a  drawing  grow  under  their  eyes.  Moreover,  a 
black-board  drawing  enables  the  teacher  to  present 
a  complex  object  little  by  little,  and  to  exaggerate  the 
scale  of  important  parts  of  an  object  that  are  too  small 
to  be  clearly  seen  in  a  model  or  complete  drawing. 
In  lessons  on  subjects  in  which  form  plays  an  im- 
portant part,  as  in  Botany,  it  is  well  to  get  the  chil- 
dren to  copy  for  themselves  the  forms  set  before  them. 

Words  to  be  Communicated  after  the  Ideas  which 
they  Represent. —  In  his  desire  to  get  children  to  ac- 


OBJECT  LESSONS.  73 

quire  real  knowledge,  the  teacher  should  not  forget 
the  importance  of  their  acquiring  verbal  knowledge 
commensurate  with  it.  Words  are  indispensable  as 
the  symbols  of  knowledge  and  should  be  taught  as 
occasion  requires,  care  being  taken  that  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  thing  or  quality  takes  precedence  of  the 
knowledge  of  tlie  word  designating  it.  There  are 
some  qualities  that  are  common  to  large  classes  of 
objects.  It  is  not  necessary  to  introduce  these  into 
every  lesson  on  objects  possessing  them.  Once  they 
are  well  known,  the  teacher  may  assume  the  knowl- 
edge of  them  and  direct  his  attention  more  particu- 
larly to  distinctive  qualities. 

All  new  words  should  be  written  on  the  black-board, 
and  an  abundance  of  examples  should  be  given  and 
required  in  which  the  words  occur. 

Importance  of  Neatness. —  Teachers  cannot  be  too 
careful  in  performing  experiments,  in  handling  and 
arranging  specimens,  and  in  drawing  and  writing  on 
the  black-board,  to  set  an  example  of  neatness,  order, 
and  symmetrical  arrangement.  Clumsy  experiments, 
disorderly  heaps  of  specimens,  bad  drawings,  illegible 
writing,  and  confused  black-board  work  have  neces- 
sarily a  bad  moral  and  intellectual  effect  on  the  minds 
of  the  children  before  whose  eyes  they  are  constantly 
presented. 
7 


Chapter  VIII. 

ON  THE  SPECIAL  VALUE  OF  THE  PHYSICAL 
SCIENCES  AS  INSTRUMENTS  FOR  CULTIVAT- 
ING THE  SENSES, 

THE  special  value  of  the  Physical  Sciences  as 
educational  instruments  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
bring  the  mind,  if  properly  studied,  in  contact  with 
things  and  not  mere  words.,  and  afford  suitable  oppor- 
tunities for  systematic  training  of  the  observing  fac- 
ulties. "  A  lesson  one  day  on  a  bone,  the  next  on  a 
piece  of  lead,  and  the  next  on  a  flower,  may  be  ex- 
cellent for  imparting  'information,'  but  the  lack 
of  relation  among  these  objects  unfits  theni  to  be 
employed  for  develoi)ing  connected  and  dependent 
thought.  This  teaching  can  be  thoroughly  successful 
only  when  the  objects  studied  are  connected  all  to- 
gether in  a  large,  complex  wiiole,  as  a  part  of  the 
order  of  nature.  The  elementary  details  must  be 
such  as  children  can  readily  apprehend,  while  the 
characters  and  relations  are  so  varied  and  numerous 
as  to  furnish  an  extended  course  of  acquisition  issuing 

74 


VALUE    OF   THE    PHYSICAL    SCIENCES.      75 

in  a  large  body  of  scientific  principles.  Only  in  a  field 
so  broad  and  inexhaustible  as  to  give  play  to  the  men- 
tal faculties  in  their  continuous  expansion  can  object- 
studies  have  that  real  disciplinary  influence  which  is 
now  so  desirable  an  element  of  popular  education." 

What  should  be  Aimed  at  in  Physical  Studies. — 

The  object  which  the  teacher  should  set  before  him 
in  teaching  any  physical  science  should  be 

1.  To  let  facts  speak  for  themselves; 

2.  To  supply  suitable  experiments  and  specimens 
for  the  establishment  of  general  laws  ; 

3.  To  secure  accuracy  and  solidity  in  the  knowl- 
edge acquired  ; 

4.  To  connect  scientific  principles  with  their  prac- 
tical applications ; 

5.  To  sharpen  the  observing  powers; 

6.  To  cultivate  the  imagination  in  the  apprehen- 
sion of  theories  where  proof  is  not  available; 

7.  To  exercise  the  reasoning  powers; 

8.  To  form  good  intellectual  habits. 

'I'he  Physical  Sciences  most  suitable  for  these  pur- 
poses are  Botany,  Chemistry,  Human  Physiology,  Nat- 
ural Philosophy,  Geology,  and  Physical  Geography. 

Botany. —  Of  these  Botany  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
valuable  and  available,  from  an  educational  point  of 
view.      Its  special  advantages  are  these: 


75  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

1.  The  materials  for  its  study  are  everywhere 
accessible ; 

2.  The  study  can  be  carried  on  in  an  ordinary 
school-room  and  requires  little  apparatus  ; 

3.  The  elementary  facts  are  so  simple  that  their 
study  can  be  commenced  in  early  childhood,  and  so 
numerous  as  to  admit  of  a  prolonged  course  of  ob- 
servation ; 

4.  The  study  may  be  stopped  at  any  stage,  and  the 
advantages  gained  are  substantial  and  valuable; 

5.  The  means  are  furnished  for  organizing  object- 
teaching  into  a  systematic  method  ; 

6.  The  study  is  unrivalled  in  the  scope  it  offers  to 
the  descriptive  powers,  as  its  vocabulary  is  more 
copious,  precise,  and  well-settled  than  that  of  any 
other  of  the  natural  sciences ; 

7.  It  is  congenial  with  the  pleasurable  activity  of 
childhood  and  enforces  rambles  and  excursions; 

8.  It  has  a  practical  value  in  agriculture  and  horti- 
culture, pursuits  in  which  more  people  are  occupied 
and  interested  than  in  all  others  put  together; 

9.  The  study  of  plant-forms  opens  up  to  us  a  world 
of  grace,  harmony,  and  beauty,  that  is  not  without 
influence  upon  the  aesthetic  feelings,  and  the  appreci- 
ation of  Art ; 

10.  Botany  is  a  source  of  pure  and  unfailing  per- 
sonal enjoyment ; 

11.  It  involves,  in  its  higher  branches,  the  employ- 


VALUE    OF   THE   PHYSICAL    SCIENCES.      JJ 

ment  of  the  microscope,  the  most  delicate  and  pow- 
erful of  all  instruments  of  observation. 

12.  It  opens  the  field  of  experiment  and  affords 
opportunity  for  cultivating  manipulating  processes. 

13.  It  has  intimate  connections  with  all  the  other 
sciences — Physics,  Chemistry,  Geology,  Meteorology, 
and  Physical  Geography,  and  is  the  proper  introduc- 
tion to  the  great  subject  of  Biology  —  the  science  of 
the  general  laws  of  life. 

The  Use  of  Books  in  the  Study  of  Physical  Science. 

—  Books  cannot  be  dispensed  with  in  the  study  of 
Physical  Science,  but  they  should  be  subordinated  to 
the  study  of  things.  Their  proper  use  would  seem  to 
be  to  follow  observation  and  experiment,  and  present 
in  accurate  language  the  truths  elicited  by  personal 
investigation. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  teaching  physical  science 
the  teacher  should  rely  largely  upon  oral  instruction, 
his  immediate  object  being  to  stimulate  curiosity  and 
minimize  difficulties,  so  as  to  render  the  subject  as 
attractive  as  possible.  In  the  later  stages  it  is  well 
for  the  class  to  go  first  over  the  gr()\)ii(l  whii  h  rlie 
teacher  proposes  to  traverse  1>\  lllcln^^.•lvc-^.  Thcv 
will  tlieii  be  better  prepared  for  his  instruction.  They 
wdl  have  thought  themselves  hungry,  and  will  come 
to  his  teaching  with  an  intellectual  appetite. 
7* 


Chapter  IX. 

LESSONS  ON  COLOR  AND  FORM. 

ONE  of  the  earliest  impressions  which  the  mind  is 
capable  of  receiving  is  that  produced  by  the  un- 
decomposable  sensation  of  light.  Following  the  or- 
der of  nature,  the  teacher  should  make  the  pupils 
acquainted  at  the  earliest  stage  of  tlieir  education  with 
the  more  marked  differences  of  color,  taking  advan- 
tage of  every  convenient  opportunity  to  direct  the  eye 
to  harmonious  combinations  of  color.  The  apparatus 
requisite  for  a  series  of  lessons  on  Color  would  be 
{a)  A  sheet  of  colored  squares  showing 

1.  Black  and  white. 

2.  Primary  colors. 

3.  Secondary  colors. 

4.  Common  shades  of  different  colors. 
(/))  Loose  cards  colored  in  the  same  way. 
{c)  Colored  wools. 

{(i)  Colored  textile  fabrics. 
{e)   Colored  pictures. 

78 


/.ASSOXS    OX  COLOR   AXD   FORM.  J() 

As  the  colors  are  learned  the  children  should  be  re- 
quired to  match  the  loose  cards  from  the  colored 
squares,  or  z'ice  versa,  to  match  the  squares  from  the 
cards ;  to  name  familiar  objects  of  the  color  which  is 
under  consideration  ;  to  name  shades  of  the  color,  etc. 

The  harmony  of  colors  is  best  taught  by  familiariz- 
ing the  eye  with  instances  of  it.  The  teacher  should 
carefully  avoid,  in  the  use  of  colored  balls  and  wools, 
and,  indeed,  at  all  other  times,  inharmonious  combi- 
nations of  color.  Female  teachers  cannot  be  too 
particular  in  the  selection  of  the  colors  of  their  own 
articles  of  dress.  Careful  attention  should  also  be 
paid  -to  the  coloring  of  the  school,  and  the  selection 
of  pictures  for  the  walls. 

The  most  elementary  lessons  on  form  should  be  on 
the  Kindergarten  "gifts,"  which  admit  of  being 
handled  as  well  as  seen,  the  notion  of  solid  form 
being,  as  we  have  seen,  mainly  derived  from  tactile 
sensations. 

The  apparatus  required  for  teaching  superficial  form 
should  consist  of 

1.  A  sheet  showing  the  common  and  geometrical 
plane  and  solid  figures. 

2.  A  box  of  wooden  models  to  correspond. 
The  children  should  be  required 

I.  To  count  the  number  of  sides  which  each  figure 
possesses  as  the  teacher  runs  his  finger  over  them  or 
points  to  them  on  the  sheet. 


80  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

2.  To  match  the  models  from  the  sheet,  and  the 
figures  on  the  sheet  from  the  models. 

3.  To  name  the  figures  after  the  figures  have  come 
to  be  readily  identified. 

4.  To  name  familiar  objects  resembling  the  figures. 

5.  To  describe  the  shape  of  familiar  objects;  and 
so  on. 

Linear  form  is  best  taught  in  connection  with 
drawing. 

In  teaching  drawing,  the  children  should  not  be 
detained  too  long  over  unmeaning  straight  lines  and 
curves.  Their  delight  in  drawing  mainly  arises  from 
the  satisfaction  which  it  affords  to  their  imitative  and 
creative  instincts,  and  is  naturally  greatest  in  repre- 
senting objects  in  which  they  take  an  interest. 

The  order  of  a  series  of  elementary  drawing  lessons 
would  appear  to  be 

1.  The  representation  of  common  objects  bounded 
by  straight  lines,  such  as  a  post,  a  stool,  a  bench,  a 
box,  a  ladder,  a  comb,  a  bed,  a  clothes-horse,  a  ta- 
ble. 

2.  The  duplication  of  straight  lines  as  seen  in  va- 
rious common  objects,  such  as  the  preceding  series. 

3.  The  representation  of  common  objects  in  whicli 
(  urves  appear,  Mich  as  a  clock,  an  arched  window,  a 
kite,  a  jug,  etc. 

4.  The  representation  of  symmetrically  divided 
objects   needing  measurement  with  the  eye,  such  as 


LESSOXS   OX  COLOR   AND   FORM.  8 1 

a  window  showing  panes,  a  door  showing  panels,  a 
Maltese  cross,  the  front  of  a  house,  etc. 

As  soon  as  children  have  acquired  some  facility  in 
drawing  from  the  flat  they  should  draw  from  models. 

The  teacher  should  always  show  young  pupils  where 
to  begin  in  drawing  an  object,  and  should  draw  it 
himself  a  part  at  a  time,  on  the  black-board,  taking 
care  that  they  keep  pace  with  him.  A  complex-look- 
ing object  frightens  a  child,  but  if  it  be  decomposed 
and  presented  a  line  at  a  time,  he  is  encouraged  to 
attack  it.  There  is  this  further  advantage  in  this 
method  :  the  children  are  kept  well  together  and  are 
prevented  from  wasting  their  time  in  needless  use  of 
the  India-rubber. 

Inventive  drawing  is  best  taught  after  children  have 
acquired  some  facility  in  drawing  straight  lines  and 
curves,  and  the  commoner  geometrical  forms.  The 
apparatus  required  for  it  are 

1.  Books  ruled  for  the  purpose. 

2.  The  black-board. 

The  children  should  be  shown  how  a  figure  may  be 
ornamently  filled  up,  and  after  some  practice  in  copy- 
ing examples,  should  be  encouraged  to  make  designs 
of  their  own. 

F 


Chapter  X. 

THE    SENSES   IN   RELATION  TO  THE   ORDINARY 
SUBJECTS  OF  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION. 

THERE  are  few  subjects  of  school  instruction  in 
which  the  senses  might  not  play  an  important 
part,  if  teachers  would  only  set  children  to  observe 
for  themselves,  instead  of  giving  them  verbal  ac- 
counts of  observations  made  by  other  people.  Even 
in  those  exercises  in  which  children  are  bound  to  see 
things  for  themselves,  such  as  writing  and  drawing, 
the  teacher  may  do  much  to  make  them  observe  more 
accurately 

1.  By  getting  them  to  decompose  complex  objects. 

2.  By  classifying  the  parts  and  presenting  them  in 
the  order  of  their  simplicity. 

3.  By  a   critical   comparison   between  the  object 
and  its  copy. 

Reading  is  an  art  which  is  mainly  acquired  through 
the  visual  memory.     We  are  only  concerned,  for  the 

82 


SUBJECTS   OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      83 

present,  with   that  part  of  it  which  deals  with  the 
learning  the  shapes  of  letters  and  printed  words. 

Before  children  begin  to  learn  the  Alphabet  they 
should  have  their  eyes  trained  to  perceive  the  ele- 
ments of  which  letters  are  composed,  and  their  fin- 
gers trained  to  reproduce  them.  All  the  capital 
letters  (and  those  only  should  be  taught  first,  because 
they  are  the  simplest  in  outline)  are  constructed  out 
of  these  four  simple  elements,  viz. : 

1.  The  vertical  line. 

2.  The  horizontal  line. 

3.  Oblique  lines. 

4.  The  circle. 

By  judiciously  constructed  exercises,  based  on  these 
elements,  the  children  may  be  led  on  to  produce  the 
letters  as  they  are  learned.  The  advantages  of  this 
method  are  obvious.  The  complex  letter  is  decom- 
posed and  reconstructed  and,  in  the  process,  kept 
continuously  under  the  eye. 

The  reproduction  of  the  letters  should  be  made 
in  a  variety  of  ways,  so  as  to  satisfy  the  instincts 
of  activity  and  construction  and  avoid  monotony. 
Thus  the  children  may  be  required  to  make  the  let- 
ters 

1.  In  the  air. 

2.  On  the  black-board. 

3.  With  bits  of  wood  or  paper  prepared  for  the 
purpose. 


84  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

4.  With  peas  and  sticks,  and  so  on.  Again,  the 
children  should  be  made  to  match  letters  for  the  pur- 
pose of  compelling  them  to  notice 

1.  The  points  of  agreement  and 

2.  The  points  of  difference  between  them. 
Again,  they  should  be  required  to  convert  one  letter 

into  another,  as  /  into  T,  ^into  E,  and  so  on. 

Picture  alphabets  are  of  little  use  except  for  the 
purpose  of  attracting  the  attention  and  making  the 
reading  exercise  pleasurable.  "A  was  an  Archer," 
with  its  accompanying  picture,  throws  no  light  on  the 
form  of  the  letter  A,  and  can  only  assist  the  memory 
by  calling  up  the  picture  in  which  the  A  appears. 
Analogies  between  the  letters  and  familiar  objects, 
especially  if  traced  by  the  children  themselves,  are 
much  more  valuable.  "Y  is  like  a  wine-glass," 
leads  the  child  to  institute  a  comparison  between  the 
two,  and  forms  an  association  which  fixes  the  -shape 
of  the  letter  in  the  memory.  The  Y  calls  up  the 
wine-glass  and  the  wine-glass  calls  up  the  Y. 

Letters  that  closely  resemble  one  anotlier,  as  c  and 
e,  b  and  d,  p  and  q,  should  be  closely  compared, 
and  their  differences  insisted  on.  Here  mnemonic 
rhymes  may  be  introduced  to  fix  the  differences  in 
the  memory. 

Anomalous  words  should  be  taught  as  visual  wholes, 
and  the  hand  should  form  them  as  soon  as  the  eye 
has  learned  to  identify  them. 


SUBJECTS   OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      85 

The  ear  should  be  practised  by  short  exercises 
in  pronunciation  and  enunciation,  and  the  teacher 
should  make  a  free  use  of  the  black-board  in  niakine 
visible  to  the  eye  letters  not  sounded  or  incorrectly 
sounded,  care  being  always  taken  that  no  wrongly- 
spelled  word  is  ever  put  on  the  black-board.  Letters 
that  are  not  sounded  may  be  crossed  through  ;  sounds 
that  are  inaccurate  may  be  represented  above  or 
below  the  proper  symbol  ;  but  the  picture  of  the 
word  as  properly  spelled  should  never  be  disturbed. 
We  a7'e  haunted  not  only  by  the  ghosts  of  errors  ive 
have  committed,  but  even  by  the  ghosts  of  errors  we 
have  seen  or  heard. 

Spelling  stands  on  the  same  footing  as  the  mechan- 
ical art  of  Reading.  If  spelling  were  phonetic,  we 
should  not  need  to  remember  it ;  we  should  have  only 
to  apply  general  rules  to  particular  cases ;  but  an  arbi- 
trary mode  of  spelling  like  our  own  is  mainly  remem- 
bered by  the  eye,  and  must  be  learned  through  the 
eye.  The  mere  repetition  of  the  letters  contributes 
very  slightly  to  fix  spelling  on  the  memory,  there 
being  little  or  no  association  to  assist  us  in  retaining 
the  letters.  In  the  visible  word  the  Avhole  picture  of 
the  word  is  the  aggregate  of  the  parts;  in  the  audible 
word  the  whole  word  is  not  the  aggregate  of  the  alpha- 
betic names  of  the  letters,  and  only  an  approximate 
aggregate  of  their  phonic  equivalents. 


86  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

The  best  means  of  teaching  spelling  are 

1.  Transcription. 

2.  Dictation  after  preparation  from  a  book.  The 
correct  form  of  mis-spelled  words  should  be  written 
down  sufficiently  often  to  leave  a  stronger  impression 
upon  the  mind  than  the  blunder.  We  must  not  sup- 
pose that  we  can  wholly  obliterate  a  blunder.  Nature 
is  not  to  be  tampered  with  in  that  way.  All  we  can 
do  is  to  substitute  right  impressions  for  wrong  ones, 
and  leave  the  wrong  ones  to  die  out,  so  far  as  they 
can  die,  from  .the  absence  of  repetition  and  of  asso- 
ciations that  accompany  repetition. 

3.  Words,  of  which  the  spelling  is  often  confounded, 
should  be  brought  into  close  juxtaposition,  that  the 
eye  may  dwell  on  the  points  of  agreement  and  differ- 
ence between  them. 

4.  The  black-board  should  be  used  in  tracing  out 
the  leading  rules  of  spelling.  A  few  well-chosen  ex- 
amples will  suffice  to  indicate  to  the  eye  the  law  which 
they  illustrate. 

Topical  SpeUing.*  —  One  of  the  very  best  methods 
of  conducting  a  spelling  exercise  is  that  by  means  of 
topics.  No  other  method  so  readily  puts  in  exercise 
the  perceptive  faculties.  A  word  is  of  little  or  no 
value  till  it  is  associated  with  an  idea.      No  person 

*  From  the  New  England  Journal  of  Education. 


SUBJECTS   OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      8/ 

will  remember  a  list  of  words  from  a  foreign  language 
unless  he  is  familiar  with  their  meaning ;  nor  will 
children  retain  the  spelling  of  a  word  unless  it  be 
something  for  which  they  find  a  use  in  ordinary  con- 
versation. The  violation  of  this  rule  has  z^/zeducated 
whole  generations  of  scholars  in  our  public  schools. 
It  is  astonishing  how  young  teachers,  and  not  a  few 
old  ones,  settle  down  on  mere  abstractions  in  all  their 
exercises.  Children  rarely  fail  to  become  correct 
spellers  who  are  taught  while  young  to  spell  familiar 
objects  around  them  at  their  homes.  They  at  once 
cultivate  habits  of  observation  which  never  leave 
them.  In  this  respect,  parents  are  the  best  of  teach- 
ers to  young  children.  I  cannot  too  strongly  recom- 
mend the  following  methods  to  the  consideration  of 
parents  and  teachers. 

I.  Direct  the  whole  school  to  write  on  their  slates 
fifteen  names  of  objects  they  can  see  in  the  school- 
room. The  first  one  who  has  the  requisite  number 
raises  his  hand,  and  is  then  requested  to  copy  his  list 
on  the  black-board.  As  soon  as  this  is  done,  the 
whole  school  rise,  turn  their  backs  to  the  board, 
and  spell  the  words  from  the  board,  dictated  by  the 
teacher  or  the  pupil.  When  this  is  finished,  the 
teacher  calls  upon  the  school  to  raise  their  hands  if 
they  have  any  words  on  their  slates  not  on  the  board. 
The  teacher  points  to  each  one  who  spells  his  addi- 
tional words.     In  this  way,  in  a  few  minutes,  every 


88  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

object  in  the  school-room  is  spelled  by  the  whole 
school ;  difficult  words  are  noted,  and  the  whole 
school  is  educated  in  spelling,  so  far  as  the  school- 
room is  concerned. 

2.  For  the  next  exercise,  let  them  rise  from  their 
seats,  look  out  of  the  windows  five  minutes,  by  your 
watch,  and  then  spell  everything  they  can  see.  Drill 
them  on  difficult  words. 

3.  Give  them  for  topics  everything  they  saw  on  the 
way  to  school ;  everything  they  can  see  in  a  store  of 
goods  \  everything  on  the  dinner-table  ;  names  of  all 
kinds  of  cloth  ;  all  the  parts  of  a  wagon  and  harness ; 
names  of  quadrupeds,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  insects, 
shells,  garden  vegetables,  flowers,  trees,  fruits,  metals, 
rocks,  and  minerals. 

4.  Let  them  write  the  name  of  every  object  made 
of  iron,  or  that  has  any  iron  about  it ;  also,  every- 
thing made  of  wood.  A  live  teacher  can  draw  out 
of  his  pupils  an  immense  number  of  words  from  the 
foregoing  subjects. 

5.  Let  them  write  the  names  of  the  capitals  of  the 
different  States  in  the  Union;  also,  of  different 
countries  on  the  globe. 

6.  Let  them  write  the  names  of  all  the  persons 
living  in  the  school  district. 

7.  Let  them  write  the  names  of  the  days  of  the 
week,  and  of  the  months. 

8.  Let  them  write  the  names  of  the  parts  of  an 


SUBJECTS   OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      89 

apple,  a  ship,  or  a  house ;    different  kinds  of  food, 
and  names  of  different  trades. 

9.  Let  them  write  a  list  of  all  the  persons  necessary 
to  make  a  loaf  of  bread,  commencing  with  the  fell- 
ing of  trees  in  the  forest.  It  is  said  that  one  thou- 
sand different  occupations  are  involved  in  making  a 
loaf  of  bread.  Let  them  see  how  many  they  can 
write. 

10.  For  an  occasional  exercise,  let  the  first  pupil 
in  an  advanced  class  spell  the  name  of  some  town  or 
city,  and  then  let  the  next  mention  the  name  of  a 
town  whose  first  letter  is  the  same  as  the  last  letter 
of  the  name  just  spelled.  If  a  scholar  fails  to  do 
this,  he  is  seated  at  once. 

11.  Make  the  whole  school  rise,  and  as  soon  as  any 
scholar  can  mention  the  name  of  a  town  in  the  State, 
he  raises  his  hand.  The  teacher  asks  him  to  spell  it, 
and  he  is  then  seated.  When  the  class  are  all  seated, 
they  rise  and  repeat  the  exercise,  with  a  new  list  of 
words. 

12.  Tell  a  class  to  spell,  for  their  next  lesson,  all 
the  words  they  can  think  of,  commencing  with  the 
letter  A.     Go  on  in  this  way  through  the  alphabet. 

13.  Tell  small  scholars  to  spell,  for  their  next  les- 
son, as  many  words  as  they  can  think  of  which  con- 
tain but  one  syllable.  Go  on  through  the  different 
grades  of  words  by  syllables. 

14.  Give  them  some  familiar  work  for  a  subject, 
8* 


90  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

and  tell  them  to  write  on  their  slates  everything  they 
can  think  of  about  it,  and  then  make  them  spell  the 
words  in  the  order  in  which  they  have  written  them. 
This  is  an  excellent  introduction  to  the  writing  of 
compositions,  though  the  teacher  should  not  be  so 
unwise  as  to  call  them  such. 

15.  Dictate  to  a  class  ten  words  difficult  to  spell, 
and  see  how  many  will  write  them  correctly  on  their 
slates. 

Writing,  like  Reading,  is  mainly  dependent  on  the 
visual  memory,  and  requires  careful  cultivation  of  the 
eye.  The  eye  will  be  assisted  in  learning  the  forms 
of  the  symbols,  and  the  hand  in  reproducing  them, 
by  copying  the  elements  of  which  the  symbols  are 
composed,  first  separately,  after  careful  analysis,  and 
then  in  combination.  This  should  not  be  persisted 
in  too  long.  Children  prefer  words  that  convey  a 
meaning  to  unmeaning  symbols.  As  they  advance, 
their  attention  should  be  directed  to 

1.  The  normal  size  of  the  letters  in  the  hand 
chosen ; 

2.  The  normal  spaces  ; 

3.  The  normal  inclination  ; 

4.  The  normal  proportions  of  those  parts  of  letters 
which  are  above  or  below  the  line  ; 

5.  The  normal  height  of  the  dots  to  the  /'s  and  the 
strokes  to  the  /'s  ; 


SUBJECTS   OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      9I 

6.  The  balance  of  curves,  etc. 

Children  should  be  shown  where  to  begin  letters, 
and  the  black-board  used  to  exemplify  the  points  in- 
sisted on. 

Arithmetic.  —  Children  have  no  idea  of  abstract 
number  until  long  after  they  have  been  familiar  with 
concrete  numbers.  Numbers,  therefore,  should  be, 
at  first,  presented  to  them  in  the  concrete.  When 
children  are  familiar  with  three  balls,  three  oranges, 
three  fingers,  etc.,  they  will  gradually  form  a  concep- 
tion of  three  apart  from  any  concrete  objects.  The 
apparatus  most  useful  for  giving  first  ideas  of  number 
are 

1.  A  numeral-frame; 

2.  Small  bags  of  marbles  containing  ten  each,  and 
larger  bags  capable  of  containing  ten  of  the  smaller. 

3.  Cubical  blocks. 

4.  Pictorial  representations  of  numbers  by  dots, 
lines,  and  familiar  objects. 

5.  Lengths  of  wood  or  paper,  divided  into  equal 
parts,  to  illustrate  fractions. 

There  is  an  advantage  in  always  representing  the 
lower  numbers  in  the  same  way,  so  that  the  eye  may 
associate  a  definite  and  unaltering  picture  with  them. 
Let  2  be  always  represented  by  two  horizontal  dots ; 

3  by  two  horizontal  dots  and  one  placed  over  them  ; 

4  by  two  rows  of  horizontal  dots,  and  so  on.     Li  this 


92  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

way  children  grow  accustomed  to  decompose  numbers, 
and  are  prepared  for  the  simple  rules. 

The  Addition,  Subtraction,  Multiplication,  and 
Division  Tables  should  all  be  verified  on  the  numeral- 
frame. 

Specimens  should  be  provided  of  all  the  standard 
weights  and  measures.  The  numeral-frame,  or  black- 
board, might  have  inches  and  feet  measured  on  one 
of  its  sides.  The  longer  linear  measures  should  be 
marked  off  on  some  conspicuous  part  of  the  wall.  A 
cubic  inch  and  a  cubic  foot  should  be  exemplified  by 
wooden  models.  A  superficial  foot  or  yard  should 
be  measured  in  some  open  space  on  the  school-floor. 

All  the  tables  of  money,  weights,  and  measures 
should  be  verified  before  they  are  learned  by  heart, 
and  the  children  should  be  practised  in  actual  weigh- 
ing, measuring,  and  exchanging. 

Whenever  it  is  possible,  children  should  be  enabled 
to  give  approximate  estimates  of  weights  and  measures 
by  sight,  or  muscular  effort,  or  reference  to  their  own 
bodies. 

The  dimensions  of  the  school  ought  to  be  well 
known  by  the  teacher  and  children  as  a  standard  of 
reference. 

Models  showing  the  volume  of  an  ounce  of  air  and 
a  pound  of  water  will  be  found  useful  in  teaching 
arithmetic  and  meteorology. 


SUBJECTS    OF  SCHOOL    INSTRUCTION.      93 

Geometry  and  Mensuration. —  Before  children  learn 
Euclid's  definitions,  they  should  be  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  the  concrete  examples  of  the  figures  to 
which  they  relate.  A  simple  cube  will  illustrate 
points,  straight  lines,  the  square,  parallelogram,  etc. 
Exercises  should  be  given  in  drawing  and  cutting 
out  simple  geometrical  figures. 

Such  propositions  as  admit  of  proof  by  superposi- 
tion, that  is,  by  placing  one  figure  on  the  top  of 
another  to  show  their  coincidence,  should  be  first 
taught  in  this  way.  When  a  child  has  actually  cut 
up  the  square  on  the  hypothenuse  of  a  right-angled 
triangle,  and  seen  that  it  will  fit  into  the  squares  on 
the  sides  containing  the  right  angle,  he  will  take  all 
the  greater  interest  in  the  geometrical  proof  of  the 
proposition. 

All  rules  in  Mensuration  should  be  verified  by  mod- 
els in  wood  or  paper  showing  the  number  of  units  of 
measure  in  the  superficies  or  solid,  as  the  case  may  be. 

History. —  Wherever  there  are  any  local  historical 
remains,  such  as  ancient  buildings,  battle-fields,  camps, 
old  streets,  churches,  etc.,  the  teacher  should,  as  far 
as  possible,  connect  them  with  his  lessons  in  History. 
In  these  cases  the  Past  speaks  for  itself,  but,  as  a  rule, 
the  Past  is  only  intelligible  through  the  Present,  and 
the  teacher  will  have  to  draw  very  largely  on  the 
conceptive  faculty  of  his  children.     He  will  succeed 


94  CULTIVATION  OF   THE   SENSES. 

in  this  in  proportion  to  the  extent  to  which  he  con- 
nects their  own  experience  with  the  events  and  scenes 
which  he  sets  before  them. 

The  apparatus  most  useful  for  lessons  in  History- 
would  be 

1.  A  map  of  the  country  or  locality  showing  its 
political  features  at  the  time  referred  to,  and  its  phys- 
ical features  so  far  as  they  help  to  explain  the  histori- 
cal facts. 

2.  Genealogical  charts  and  synchronistic  tables. 

3.  Drawings  illustrating  habitations,  dress,  modes 
of  warfare,  manners  and  customs,  architecture. 

4.  Clay  models  of  battle-fields,  sieges,  etc. 

5.  Pictures  of  striking  incidents. 

Geography  admits  of  constant  appeals  to  the 
visual  faculty,  and  should  commence  with  the  physi- 
cal features  of  the  country  at  our  own  doors.  Here, 
also,  we  have  to  draw  largely  on  the  conceptive  fac- 
ulty to  explain  what  is  remote  from  our  experience ; 
but  the  near  throws  more  light  on  the  remote  in 
space  than  in  time.  A  stream  of  water  running 
down  the  gutter  by  the  road-side  will  illustrate  the 
laws  that  regulate  the  phenomena  presented  by  the 
Amazon  or  the  Ganges.  A  hill  of  two  or  three  hun- 
dred feet  high  is  an  approach  towards  Mont  Blanc 
or  Mount  Everest.  A  pond  is  the  ocean  in  minia- 
ture. 


SUBJECTS    OF  SCHOOL    IXSTRUCTION.      95 

The  apparatus  needed  for  lessons  in  Geography- 
would  be 

1.  A  meridian  line  painted  on  the  floor  of  the 
school,  or  a  magnetized  knitting-needle  freely  sus- 
pended by  a  collar  of  paper,  so  as  to  show  the  points 
of  the  compass ; 

2.  A  ground  plan  of  the  school ; 

3.  A  map  of  the  neighborhood  in  which  the  school 
is  situated  ; 

4.  Maps  of  the  County,  State,  Continent,  etc.  ; 

5.  Specimens  of  the  products  of  the  countries 
treated  ; 

6.  Relief  maps  or  clay  models  of  the  countries 
treated  ; 

7.  Sections  of  the  country  in  different  directions; 

8.  Pictures  or  drawings  illustrating  vegetable  and 
mineral  productions,  physical  peculiarities,  people, 
houses,  costumes,  manners,  and  customs; 

9.  Special  maps  to  illustrate  distribution  of  pro- 
ductions, population,  climatic  phenomena,  etc. 

10.  A  globe. 

A  careful  and  thoughtful  survey  of  this  apparatus, 
under  the  direction  of  an  intelligent  teacher,  ought 
to  render  much  verbal  description  and  explanation 
unnecessary.     The  facts  would  speak  for  themselves. 

The  teacher  of  Geography  should  always  keep  in 
memory  convenient  units  of  measurement  to  be  ap- 
plied to  large  numbers,  such  as  the  area  of  the  county, 


96  CULTIVATION  OF   THE  SENSES. 

the  length  of  the  nearest  large  river,  the  population 
of  the  town,  the  height  of  some  well-known  public 
building,  etc.  All  these  are  helps  to  the  imagination 
in  grasping  large  numbers. 

Grammar  deals  with  words,  and  not  with  things, 
and  affords  little  direct  exercise  for  the  senses.  But 
the  teacher  who  deals  with  the  subject  inductively 
will  assist  the  mind  in  discovering  many  of  the  facts 
of  Grammar,  such  as  inflections  and  syntactical  rules, 
by  placing  well-selected  examples  in  close  juxtaposi- 
tion on  the  black-board.  The  eye  will  see  for  itself 
what  the  Grammar  teaches. 

If  concrete  terms  be  used  in  connection  with  the 
parts  of  speech,  great  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
confound  words  with  the  things  and  relations  which 
they  denote. 


The   End. 


Model  Text- Books 


•»^?^* 


CHASE  &  STUART'S  CLASSICAL  SERIES. 


COMPPaSING    EDITIONS  OF 


Cmsar's  Commentaries, 

First  Sijo  Boohs  of  Mneici, 

Virgil's  Eclogues  and  Georgics, 
Virgil's  Mneid, 

Cicero's  Select  Orations, 
Horace's  Odes,  Satires,  and  Epistles, 
Cicero  De  Senectnte,  et  De  Amicitia, 
Sallust's  Catiline  et  Jugurtha, 
Cornelius  Jfepos, 

Cicero  De  Officiis, 
■i    Cicero's  Tusculan  Disputations, 
^        Cicero  De  Oratore,  Juvenal, 

^  Terence,  Tacitus, 

if^ft  Ovid.     In  Preijaration.         Livil. 


A 

SERIES    OF  TEXT-BOOKS 

ON  THE 

ENGI.ISH     LANGUAGE. 

By  JOHN  S.  HART,  LL.D., 

Late  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  of  the  English  LanymijK  in  the 

College  of  New  Jersey- 

The  Series  comprises  the  following  volumes,  viz. : 
Laiigioage  Lessons  for  Beginners, 
Eleinentary  English  Grammar, 
English  Graimnar  and,  Analysis, 
First  Lessons  in  Composition, 
Composition  and  lihetoric, 
A  Short  Course  in  Literature, 
A  Class-Booh  of  Boetry, 
A  Manual  of  American  Literature, 
A  Manual  of  English  Literature. 


MODEL  SERIES  OF  ARITHMETICS. 

By  EDGAR  A.  SINGER,  A.M., 

Principal  of  the  Henry  W.  Ifalliicell  Grammar  School,  Philadelphia. 

COMPRISING 

TJio  Model  Frimary  ArithmetiG, 

The  Model  Elementary  Arithmetic, 

TJie  Model  Mental  Arithmetic, 

The  Model  Fractieal  Arithmetic, 

TJie  Model  Test  AritTimetic.    In  Preparation. 


Elements  of  PJit/sieal  Geographjf. 

By  Edwin  J.  Houston,  A.M.,  Prof,  of  Physics  and 
Physical  Geograpliy  in  the  Central  High  Scliool  of 
Pliiladelpliia. 

Easy  Lessons  in  Nafural  PhllosojihiJ. 

By  Edwin  J.  Houston,  A.M.,  Prof,  of  Physics  and 
Physical  Geography  in  the  Central  High  School  of 
Philadelphia. 

Elements  of  Natural  PhilosojiJti/. 

By  Edwin  J.  Houston,  A.M.,  Prof,  of  Physics  and 
Physical  Geography  in  the  Central  High  School  of 
Philadel])hia. 

Christian   Ethics;    or,    The  Science  of  the 
Life  of  Iluman  Dntt/. 

A  New  Text-Book  on  Moral  Science.  By  Rev.  D.  S. 
Gregory,  D.D.,  President  of  Lake  Forest  University, 
Illinois. 

Groesbeck's  Practical  Book-Keeping  Series. 

By  Prof.  John  Groesbeck,  Prin.  of  the  Crittenden 
Commercial  College.     In  Two  Volumes,  viz. : 

College  Edition,   for  Commercial   Schools,  Col- 
leges, etc. 

School  Edition,  for  Schools  and  Academies. 

Blnnks  for  Cplleffc  Edition,  35  books. 

lil finks  for  Soliool  Edition,  5  books. 
For  the  accommodation  of  classes  in  Book-Keeping,  we 
have  prepared  foolscap  paper  of  best  quality,  ruled  for 
Day-Book,   Journal,   Ledger,    Cash-Book,    Bill-Book, 
Three-column  Journal,  etc. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

For  Schools,  with  Questions  under  each  Clause.  By 
Prof.  John  S.  Hart,  LL.  D.  Should  be  taught  in 
every  school. 


An  Elementav}/  Alf/ehva. 

A  Text-Book  for  Schools  and  Academies.  By  Joseph 
W.  Wilson,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the 
Philadelphia  Central  High  School. 

The  Crittcudi'it  CoiHiiiercial  Arithmetic  and 
Business  Manual. 

Designed  for  the  use  of  Teachers.  Business  Men,  Acade- 
mies, High  Schools,  luid  Commercial  Colleges.  By  Prof. 
John  Gkoesbeck. 

A  Mannal  of  Efocntion. 

Founded  on  the  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Voice,  with 
Classified  Illustrations.     By  M.  S.  Mitchell. 

The  Model  Deftner. 

A  Book  for  Beginners,  containing  Definitions,  Etymol- 
ogy, and  Sentences  as  Models,  exhibiting  tiie  correct 
use  of  Words.    By  A.  C.  Webb. 

The  Model  Etyniolofjy. 

Containing  Definitions,  Etymology,  Sentences  as  Mod- 
els, and  Analysis.  With  a  Key  containing  the  Analysis 
of  every  word  which  could  pi'esent  any  difticulties  to 
the  learner.     By  A.  C.  Webb. 

A  Manual  of  Etuntolof/y. 

Containing  Definitions,  Etymology,  Sentences  as  Mod- 
els, and  Analysis.  With  a  Key  containing  the  Analysis 
of  every  word  which  could  present  any  difiieulties  to 
the  learner.     By  A.  C.  Webb. 

The  Model  Si)eaker. 

Consisting  of  Exercises  in  Prose  and  Poetry,  Suitable 
for  Recitation,  Declamation,  Public  Readings,  etc.  Com- 
piled for  the  use  of  Schools  and  Academies,  by  Prof. 
Philip  Lawrence. 

4 


Anatomy,  Physiologif,  and  Hygiene. 

A  Text-Book  for  Schools,  Aeadeinies,  Colleges,  and 
Families.     By  Joseph  C.  Martindale,  M.D. 

First  Lessons  in  Natural  PltilosojiJiy. 

For  Beginners.    By  Joseph  C.  Martindale,  M.D. 

A  History  of  the  United  States. 

From  the  Discovery  of  America  to  the  present  time. 

By  JOSEl'H   C.  ilARTINDALE,  M.D. 

Tables  of  Latin  Sajfixes. 

Designed  as  an  Aid  to  the  Study  of  the  Latin  Grammar. 
By  Amos  N.  Currier,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Latin  in  the 
University  f)f  Iowa. 

SOOO  Praetiee  Words. 

By  Prof.  J.  Willis  Westlake,  A.M.,  State  Normal 
School,  Millersville,  Pa.  Contains  lists  of  Familiar 
Words  often  Miss])elled,  Ditticult  Words,  Homophop.ons 
Words,  Words  often  Confounded,  Kules  for  Spelling, 
etc.  It  is  a  book  that  every  teacher  wants.  Hand- 
somely bound  in  flexible  cloth,  crimson  edges. 

In  the  ScJt  oof -Room  : 

Or,  Chapters  in  the  Philosophy  of  Education. 
Gives  the  experience  of  nearly  forty  years  .spent  in 
school-room  work.     By  John  S.  Hart,  LL.D. 

Meadows'  Spanislt  and  Enf/lish  Dictionary. 

In  Two  Parts:  I.  Spanish  and  English.  II.  Eng- 
lish and  Spanish.    By  F.  C.  Meadows,  M. A. 

The  Model  Pocket  Reyister  and  Grade-Booh. 

A  Roll  -  Book,  Record,  and  Grade -Book  combined. 
Adapted  to  all  grades  of  Classes,  whether  in  College, 
Academy,  Seminary,  High  or  Primary  School.  Hand- 
.somely  bound  in  fine  English  cloth,  bevelled  sides, 
crimson  edges. 


The  Model  School  Diary. 

Designed  as  an  aid  in  securing  the  co-operation  of 
parents.  It  consists  of  a  Eecord  of  the  Attendance, 
Deportment,  Recitations,  etc.,  of  the  Scholar  for  every 
day.  At  the  close  of  the  week  it  is  to  be  sent  to  the 
parent  or  guardian  for  his  examination  and  signature. 

TJie  Model  Monthly  Report. 

Similar  to  the  Model  School  Diary,  excepting  that  it 
is  intended  for  a  Monthly  instead  of  a  Weekly  report  of 
the  Attendance,  Recitations,  etc.,  of  the  pupil. 


MANUALS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

A  Series  of  Hand-books  comprising  five  volumes,  which, 
it  is  believed,  will  prove  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  Art 
and  Science  of  Teaching.  Printed  on  the  best  quality  of 
calendered  paper,  and  handsomely  bound. 

Price,  50  Cents  per  Volums. 
No.  1.  On  the  Cultivation  of  the  Senses. 

CONTEXTS. 

1.  Introduction. 

2.  The  Senses. 

3.  How  the  Child  gets  his  First  Ideas. 

4.  How  the  Child  Perceives. 

5.  How  tlie  Child  forms  Conceptions. 

6.  How  shall  we  Cultivate  the  Child's  Senses. 

7.  Object  Lessons. 

8.  On  the  Special  Value  of  the  Physical  Sciences  as 

Instruments  for  Cultivating  the  Senses. 

9.  Lessons  on  Color  and  Forms. 

10.  The  Senses  in  Relation  to  the  Ordinary  Subjects  in 
School  Instruction. 
6 


No.  2.  On  the  Oultivation  of  the  Memory . 

CONTENTS. 

1.  What  Memory  is. 

2.  Attention. 

3.  Association. 

4.  Memory  iii  Connection  with  Special  Subjects  of  In- 

struction. 

5.  Cultivating  the  Memory  in  Youth. 

No.  3.  On  the  Use  of  Words. 

CONTENTS. 

1.  What  Words  are. 

2.  How  we  Arrive  at  the  Full  Meaning  of  Words. 

3.  How  we  Combine  our  Words. 

4.  How  to  Teach  Ciiildren  to  Use  their  Words. 

5.  Some  Hiuts  on  English  Words. 

Appendix.— On  the  Study  of  Words. 

No.  4.  On  Discipline. 

CONTENTS. 

1.  Discipline. 

2.  Characteristics  of  Good    Discipline  as  Regards   its 

Results. 

3.  Characteristics  of  Good  Disci))line  as  Regards  its 

Exercise. 

4.  The  Instincts  to  be  Satisfied,  and  the  Motives  to  be 

Cultivated  in  Education. 

5.  Motives. 

6.  Habit. 

No.  5,  On  Class  Teaching, 

CONTENTS. 

1.  Scope  of  the  Subject. 

2.  The  Teacher. 

3.  Method  of  Instruction  :  Aims  and  Means. 

4.  Method  of  Instruction :  Class  Subjects. 

5.  The  Class. 

7 

Sc 


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iiliiiiipwMwwiiwaiBiBiiitww^^  I'"' im  tumiiiiLDiymim 


^MANUALS  FOR  TEACH 


